Kwame Nkrumah — the ‘Sun of Africa’?

When we discussed how Ghana gained independence, we also talked about Kwame Nkrumah, former Secretary General of the UGCC and Ghana’s 1st President. In the texts I had read so far, he was described as a rather agressive nationalist with the vision of a United Africa. I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t more to know about him. Nkrumah definitetly played an important role in Ghana’s independence, so I wanted to dig a little bit more and try to find out who he was. That’s when I found an interesting documentary: Faces Of Africa- Kwame Nkrumah.

This documentary does a great job in presenting Kwame Nkrumah and the main events and key moments in his struggle for Ghana’s independence, e.g.:
On March 6, 1957 Ghana gained independence and Nkrumah’s words were:
“Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent”.

Dr. K.B. Asante (Secretary of State during Nkrumah’s reign) describes him as a “charming hard task master”. Others say he had an “infectious smile” and his daughter saw him as a “music lover”. While watching this documentary I felt like putting pieces of the “Nkrumah puzzle” together, trying to see the big picture. Opinions were clearly very divided about him, calling him a dictator and rioting against him up to calling him “the Sun of Africa”. Maybe this is once again a question of perspective or (the necessary) distance?
In my opinion he played an incredibly important role for Ghana’s independence but once Ghana was free, opposition raise and along came economic problems, unemployment and the increase of food prices. Still, he left a legacy behind and will be remembered because “Nkrumah never dies”.

Have a look at the documentary which offers multiple perspectives& comments on Nkrumah and his reign and let me know which facts were the most suprising to you!