On the occasion of 50 years Anniversary of the founding of Ghana National College, pleasure and pride conjoin in me as I honour the memory of Osagyefo, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of Ghana National College. The pleasure is personal, out of my own respect and affection for this man of many parts and many gifts; but I feel also very proud because I am a product of Ghana College.

Nkrumah was a man of broad human outlook, the times in which lived deeply influenced him, as did also the great ideas of the age; and events, imperceptibly served as lessons. Despite external influences, however, he strove for individuality, and it was this, which always remained the keynote of his ideas. He disliked political dogmas, and viewed set ideas pragmatically with a critical mind; and he believed that ideas should find physical, institutional expression. It is for this reason, that he contributed to the founding of the OAU, the Non-Aligned Movement and brought about the setting up of the Commonwealth Secretariat in order to strengthen the Commonwealth as a shop-window of racial equality.

Nkrumah's Outlook on life is symbolized by a policy statement lie made at the National Assembly, on 2nd October, 1962. In the course of the Session Address, he made use of the following quotation:

This is perhaps the acme of Nkrumah's psychological make-up; his selfless spirit and passionate desire for change animated the founding of Ghana National College. It is not accidental that Ghana National College is a product of Ghana's revolution for independence. The College was therefore founded on the vision of greatness. Nkrumah responded to the yearning of parents whose children have been dismissed from various College as a result of these students taking part in a strike action calculated to influence the release of the country's leaders who had been detained by Colonial Authorities in their quest and agitation for independence. Thus Ghana National College was conceived in storm and stress and brought forth on 26th July, 1948 amid rugged and tangled difficulties, even its formation was in BREACH of the Regulations of the Colonial Education Department. In fact, it was widely, believed that the complexities of the Colonial imprint will give rise to sanctions against the founder and that the College Would be closed down. Fortunately this did not happen; but the College thrived in crisis, and the problems it faced were legion. This situation is reflected in what Nkrumah did to sustain the College: Nkrumah hired the Odd fellows [fall on MarCarthy Hill in Cape Coast for Eight Shillings a month and the students were housed there]. From Nkrumah's salary of twenty five Pounds (25) a month, he spent ten Pounds (10) on kerosene tins, Packing cases, and Boards to serve as seats and Desks for the first batch of ten (10) students: a year later, the number of students increased to 230, and there were over one thousand (1,000) names on the waiting list. The College thrived on firm foundations of courage and determination.

Our founder tasked Ghana National College to liberate the minds of our Youth so that they may be able to tackle the many problems of our time. Today, the College provides breadth of outlook and lofty patriotism in Ghana's body politic. It is this situation, which enable old students of the College to withstand the vicissitudes of the times. In this connection, it is worthy of note that the distinctive feature of Ghana National College is its high academic standard; Kwesi Plange, J J. Mensah-Kane and H. P Nelson constituted the confluent streams by laying sound foundations for this achievement in science and in the Humanities. It appears that it is science that excelled; the credit goes to J. J. Mensah-Kane, one of the most dedicated teachers I have come across in my life. He possesses, in almost intuitive perception of science; and he imparted knowledge with ease as a result, he produced Professors and Doctors including Professor Amoah Oduro, Professor K. Osei-Manu, Professor Sefa Dede, Professor Kwakye, Dr. Asare Berkye, Dr. L. K. A. Derban, Dr. J. H. Amuasi, Secretary, Atomic Energy Commission, Kwabenya, Dr. V.A.Amoah, J. Kingsley Bentum-Williams, an eminent Engineer. The last and not the least is Professor Francis Kofi Allotey, who distinguished himself in Physics; he became one of the Governors of the World Atomic Energy with Headquarters in Vienna. The world now has Allotey's Theory in Physics; this is a rare distinction in any standard. I once had the honour to play host to Professor Allotev in London; I introduced him as one of Africa's best Scholars whose distinction in science illuminates the continent and compels the World to take Africa serious. The applause was deafening.

However, there are other areas in the Humanities where Ghana National College has also excelled by producing Lawyers, Judges, Accountants, Administrators, Diplomats, Teachers, Secretaries and other professions. Here, there are four people that must be mentioned; the first is Felicity Amoah who distinguished herself when she read Law in Britain, it is not surprising that she is now a judge of the High Court. The Second person is Aba Folson who also distinguished herself when she did a degree in English, it is obvious that she will scale to loftier heights in her present position as Director in the Ministry of Education. The third person is S.I.K. Boakye-Agyeman, an Accountant and one of the first students admitted in 1948; and the fourth person is J.E. Donkor, who with a very academic background has established one of the best Secretarial Institution in Ghana. We owe all of them a debt of gratitude for their achievement.

All aspect of the unique position which Ghana National College Occupies is that it was through the instrumentality of its first Principal, Kwesi Plange, that the Youth of Ghana were given a dominant voice in the Politics of the nation. He was about 24 years of age when he was elected in June 1950 at Cape Coast, to the Legislative Council; he was able to convince the other members of the council to REDUCE the Voting age from 25 to 21; they eventually obliged: this was an important contributory factor which enabled Nkrumah's Party, the CPP to win the 1951 General Election; it was an epic victory which helped Nkrumah to break new grounds; he also won the 1954 and the 1956 General Elections conducted by the Colonial Administration.

Under Nkrumah's government, the gigantic Volta River Project was completed one year ahead of schedule. The output of Cocoa which was the main export commodity and the life-blood of Ghana, was doubled; but the Cocoa trade cycle from overseas and the fluctuation of prices undermined aspects of his Government's development. The Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools, the Universities and the Medical School were all built; Road and Estate houses were constructed; the Tema Harbour was built including other projects. Above all, Nkrumah's Government imposed DEMOCRACY on this country by LEGISLATION; he introduced tile Avoidance of Discrimination Act-1957, which abolished Regional and Tribal Political Parties and brought Unity and solidarity which are indispensable for development. These achievements make Nkrumah's contribution to nation building indelible.

It is therefore fitting that the nation has bestowed on Dr. Nkrumah the accolade of Political Knight hood in the form building a National Musoleum to honour his memory; that is excellent. In my humble opinion, Dr.J.B. Danquah also deserves national recognition for his great Pioneering work for the country's independence; and also for the up hill task he brilliantly performed in bringing about the establishment of the Cocoa Marketing Board. In fact, without that feat by Dr. Danquah, there would have been no adequate funds to run the Government after independence; and the country without heroes is not worth dying for.

Nkrumah's distinguishing characteristic is that he had a naturally centrifugal mind; it constantly whirled out ever-expanding visions, sweeping a wide path in time and range; he was an embodiment of the new African; and he believed in wider World Community and Africa's right to contribute to the evolution of human destiny. To appreciate this fact, we have to go back to the days when Africa was called tile "dark continent": but the times have changed; Ghana made a great contribution to this; an aspect of this is that at the OAU Conference in Cairo in 1964, Nkrumah decided that Africa must make her presence felt in the UN General Assembly.

He headed a team, which included Kojo Botsio, Alex Quaison-Sackey and myself to propagate the idea. We succeeded in explaining to the other African Heads of State the importance of Africa assuming the Presidency of the UN General the Assembly that year. When the time came, Ghana received solid support from African President of the UN General Assembly; he presided over the UN Body with consummate skill. Today, Ghana's position in international affairs is further enhanced by the exceptional brilliance displayed by Kofi Annan as another UN Secretary-General from Africa. Ghana has clearly broken new grounds and set high standard in world politics.

To Nkrumah, the clarion call is 'Africa Must Unite" for development. He continued to receive international acclaim after his overthrow and death; former U.S. President Richard Nixon wrote a book entitled "Leaders". In that book, President Nixon selected World Leaders who in his opinion made the greatest contribution as Churchill, Eisenhower, De Gaulle, MarCarthy, Chou En-lai, Kruschev and three Third World Leaders namely, Nehru, Sukarno and Nkrumah, whom Nixon described as the anti-colonial agitators."

It is significant that long before late President Nixon wrote his book, there was a BBC Programme called "Personality and Power." The BBC Programme also dealt with World Leaders who made the greatest contribution to change in the 20th Century. It is remarkable that with the exception of MarcCarthy, the BBC Programme in London, and spoke about Nkrumah. It was a moving experience. The BBC Programme has now been published as a book entitled "Personality and Power". It is not exaggeration to state that Nkrumah's standing goes far beyond the confines of the African Continent. That is the pride of Ghana National College whose founder made positive contribution to the enlightenment of the world.

The amazing thing is that what Nkrumah stood for, his policies, his ideas and broad mindedness have captured the imagination of the world; and 26 years after his death, his name has become a force which is been used as motor for change in society. I have come to cherish even more than ever before the rare genius with which he endowed. Like Dr.J.B.Danquah, his contributions to thought and African Politics are profound. Few Africans have ranged so widely, so deeply or so boldly in their contribution to Africa's emancipation from colonialism and economic bondage. To Ghana National College, Nkrumah was just our founder; but to all of us alike in Ghana today whether political foes or allies, we owe him a deep debt of gratitude for the very example of his life.