Tomorrow marks the 114th birthday of Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana and a pioneer of Pan-Africanism. He was born in 1909 in Nkroful, a small village in the western region of the Gold Coast, which was then a British colony.

Nkrumah’s life was shaped by his education and exposure to different cultures and ideologies. He attended Catholic schools in Half Assini and Elmina, where he learned English and Latin. He also became interested in African history and culture, especially the ancient kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

In 1935, he left the Gold Coast to pursue higher education in the United States. He enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he studied literature, sociology, economics, and philosophy. He also became involved in the African Students’ Organization and the Pan-Africanist movement. He was influenced by the writings and speeches of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, George Padmore, and Karl Marx. He developed his vision of a united and independent Africa that would resist colonialism and imperialism.

In 1945, he moved to London, where he organized the Fifth Pan-African Congress with other prominent African leaders and activists. He also met J.B. Danquah, a lawyer and politician from the Gold Coast who invited him to join the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), a nationalist party that sought self-government from Britain. Nkrumah accepted the invitation and returned to his homeland in 1947 as the general secretary of the UGCC.

However, Nkrumah soon realized that the UGCC was too conservative and elitist for his radical agenda. He broke away from the party and formed his own, the Convention People’s Party (CPP), which mobilized the masses for immediate independence. He led a series of strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, and civil disobedience campaigns that challenged the British colonial authority. He was arrested several times and spent months in prison, but his popularity and influence only grew. In 1951, he won a landslide victory in the first general election under universal suffrage in the Gold Coast. He became the leader of government business and later the prime minister of the colony.

In 1957, after years of negotiations and struggles, Nkrumah declared the independence of Ghana from Britain. He became the first president of the new nation and proclaimed his motto: “Seek ye first the political kingdom and all else shall be added unto you.” He embarked on an ambitious program of social and economic development, as well as political integration with other African states. He founded the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 with other African leaders to promote continental unity and cooperation. He also supported liberation movements in other parts of Africa that were still under colonial rule.

Nkrumah’s achievements were not without challenges and controversies. He faced opposition from internal enemies who accused him of being a dictator and a communist. He also faced external threats from neocolonial forces who wanted to undermine his vision of a free and independent Africa. In 1966, while he was on a state visit to Vietnam, he was overthrown by a military coup backed by the CIA. He went into exile in Guinea, where he continued to write and speak about his ideas until his death in 1972 in Romania.

Nkrumah’s legacy is still alive today in Ghana and across Africa. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest African leaders of all time and a hero of anti-colonialism and Pan-Africanism. His birthday is celebrated as a national holiday in Ghana and a day of remembrance in many other African countries. His words and deeds continue to inspire generations of Africans who aspire for freedom, justice, and dignity.