The College of Art and Social Sciences, KNUST and the Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada have organised the 2nd edition of the Kwame Nkrumah International Conference. The Conference was on the theme "Africa’s many divides and Africa’s future." The event which was held at the Great Hall brought participants from other Universities around the world.
Professor Badu Akosah, in his keynote address stated that Africa’s many divides hold her back especially with the multiplicity of languages. The learning of foreign languages by Africans, according to him, is an orchestrated way of making Africans behave like foreigners.
Professor Agyeman Badu Akosah continued that religion which is also an aspect of the divide has paralysed aspects of our “Africaness” with the heterogeneity in religion. He therefore lamented on how we have not portrayed our Africaness to the extent that the educated see their “Africaness” as a drawback, even though Kwame Nkrumah urged African’s to wear their “Africaness.”
He noted with displeasure how intellectuals seek their parochial interest, and practice the worst form of capitalism that is individualistic in nature.
Again he was not happy with the Ghanaian attitudes towards public basic schools and how Ghanaians prefer to send their wards to institutions owned by whites which he deemed another form of colonialism.
He said Nkrumah was a "prophet", many years after his death, people have now realized the truth in his sayings and most of them have come to pass.
He called on Africans not to allow the many divides to entrap them but to use that to their advantage.
He said if there is any political leader who does not believe in “Africaness” then the leader is self-centred, he therefore called on Africans to wake up and work harder because there is a lot of work to be done.
Professor William Otoo Ellis, the Pro Vice-Chancellor, said Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s vision was not limited to Africa alone but extended to the rest of the world. He said, Dr. Nkrumah wanted a free and peaceful world where Africans will feature as equal partners but not as subordinate players. He said it was this that made him establish KNUST to train professionals for the continent.
Prof. Ellis noted that the debate on African Unity had been ongoing for half a century and hoped ideas from the Conference would contribute to the solution of the African problem.
Professor Sam Afrane, Provost of the CASS said Africa is characterised by many visible divides which cloak the wheels of progress of the continent. The divides result in all forms of countless dualism, not to mention the serious societal divides driven by parochial partisan politics and ideological posturing in many African countries.
Professor Afrane, said policy objectives of many governments in Africa instead of building bridges between these crippling dichotomies have rather widened these gaps. He was confident that the conference was timely to address the phenomenon in Africa.
