Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, remains one of the most influential political figures in African history. He championed the idea of a united Africa with a shared government, common currency, and even a single language. After Ghana gained independence in 1957, Nkrumah declared that the freedom of one nation meant nothing unless the entire continent was free.
He repeatedly called on African countries to unite, but most leaders of the time refused to support his vision. In 1966, Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup carried out with the involvement of Western intelligence services. Yet, as Professor Lumumba notes, many of the long-term development strategies the African Union is pursuing today, including plans for a common market, echo Nkrumah’s ideas. Why did his vision seem unrealistic to his contemporaries, and how has it shaped Africa’s current path?
