Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana. He was widely known for his relentless fight for Africa’s unity and independence earning him the title of “Father of Pan-Africanism”. Perhaps, more than any other leader in Africa, he promoted African Unity and Freedom. His contribution to Ghana’s independence was second to none. After Ghana achieved independence in 1957, liberation movement was hastened all over Africa. He convened the First Conference of Independent African States in 1958 and was a leading figure in the Casablanca Group of African leaders as well as one of the leaders who founded the Organisation of African Unity. In spite of his contribution to his native Ghana, however, he was bitterly overthrown in a coup in 1966 and fled the country to the Guinean capital of Conakry as President Sekou Toure’s guest. Following an incurable illness, he died in far away Bucharest, Romania on April 27, 1972. He died a lonely man, far away from the people he loved and the controversy surrounding his funeral was highly unfortunate.
