AS part of the activities to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of the visionary pan-Africanist and first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, the Convention of Nkrumaists is holding a conference in London on September 28.
Under the theme, The New Wave of Nkrumaism – The Continuing Relevance of Nkrumaism, the conference is the sixth in a series of conferences that aim to galvanise ‘old soldiers of the cause with the young and exuberant crusaders who will carry the torch of Nkrumaist transformational principles and vision upward and forward to a glorious future for all Africans.’
According to the secretary of the Convention, Kofi Roberts, ‘the group has determined that the vision and the political doctrine, propounded by Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, offers the most promise for progressive, transformational changes that will raise the standards of living and benefits for all citizens,’
Speakers at the conference include Ade Sawyerr, a business consultant, Dr Adotey Bing-Pappoe of the University of Greenwich, Tetteh Kofi, a media consultant and Rev. Herman Asafo-Agyei.
Background
In early 2015 a group of Ghanaian professionals, domiciled in North America, decided they had seen and heard enough about the needless sufferings of the masses of Ghana and Africa as a whole. They therefore decided to form an action group to advocate social and economic justice for all.
So, on the first Sunday of May 2015 the Concerned Nkrumaists of North America (CN-NA) was launched. Since then the seven initial core members of the group conference by phone each week to discuss ways and means of actualising their mission goals of helping to establish social and economic justice for all through progressive interventions.
CN-NA realised that the promulgation of such Nkrumaist progressive agenda will essentially require the leadership of a well oriented Nkrumaist political organisation. It further realised that the established Nkrumaist groups, as a family, was fragmented and woefully plagued by confusion, sentimental and self-serving tendencies and by inwardness and therefore not capable of well-intentioned initiatives.
CN-NA consequently decided and set out to intervene and unite the various groups to make the Nkrumaist tradition, once again, a contending and highly formidable political organisation in Ghana and Africa.
To this end, in early 2016, CN-NA commissioned a team to bring together the more recognised Nkrumaist groups i.e. the PPP, CPP and PNC for face-to-face negotiations with the goal of reunification / amalgamation of sort.
After several meetings, the mission fell just short of achieving the much coveted goal of reaching a unifying accord. CN-NA remain undaunted, however, and even more resolute to seek out and bring Nkrumaist groups together, enough to form the necessary critical mass for mandated progressive politics that may redeem the suffering masses of Ghana and Africa.
Thus CN-NA has merely changed tactics and has embarked on organising conferences around the world. CN-NA is organising such conferences with the hope that it will draw attention to its clarion calls and for sowing the seeds for the formation of local / regional chapters of Nkrumaists.
In April 2017 CN-NA held its first conference at the Dubois Centre in Accra, Ghana. In September of same year it held a conference at Mt. Crogan, South Carolina, USA and in September the following year the conference was at University of Ghana, in Accra.
In April, 2019 the group changed its name to Convention of Nkrumaists and held its 5th conference in Toronto, Canada. The conference in London on September 28 is the 6th in the series and it is hoped to be a watershed event, bringing together old soldiers of the cause with the young and exuberant crusaders who will carry the torch of Nkrumaist transformational principles and vision upward and forward to a glorious future for all Africans.
Venue: Lewisham Village, Unit 3, Lewisham Retail Park, Laompit Vale, London SE13 7RZ
Tube – Lewisham Junction (DLR)
Easy access from London Bridge, Victoria, Charing Cross stations by train.
Further information is available at: www.nkrumaists.org
