Happy Birthday Ghana
Accra, March 6, Ghanadot - Today is the
53rd anniversary of our independence and there
cannot be a better commemorative gift than a
re-reading of the speech that Nkrumah gave at
midnight, on March 6, 1957, that made Ghana the
leader of Pan Africanism and the bearer of Africa's
hopes and dreams.
Independence Speech - Kwame
Nkrumah
March 6, 1957,
Accra, Ghana
At
long last, the battle has ended! And thus,
Ghana, your beloved country is free forever!
And yet again, I
want to take the opportunity to thank the people fo
this country; the youth, the farmers, the women who
have so nobly fought and won the battle.
Also, I want to
thank the valiant ex-service men who have so
cooperated with me in this mighty task of freeing
our country from foreign rule and imperialism.
And, as I pointed
out... from now on, today, we must change our
attitudes and our minds. We must realise that
form now on we are no longer a colonial but free and
independent people.
But also, as I
pointed out, that also entails hard work. That
new Africa is ready to figt his own battles and show
that after all the black man is capable of managing
his own affairs.
We are going to
demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, hat
we are prepared to lay our foundation - our own
African personality.
As I said to the
Assembly a few minutes ago, I made a point that we
are going t create our own Africa personality and
identity. It is the only way we can show the
world that we are ready for our own battles.
But today, may I
call upon you all, that on this grer that at day let
us all remember that nothing can be done unless it
has the purport and support of God.
We have won the
battle and again rededicate ourselves ... OUR
INDEPENDENCE IS MEANINGLESS UNLESS IT IS LINKED UP
WITH THE TOTAL LIBERATION OF AFRICA.
Let us now, fellow
Ghanaians, let us now ask for God's blessing for
only two seconds, and in your thousands and
millions.
I want to ask you
to pause for only one minute and give thanks to
Almighty God for having led us through our
difficulties, imprisonments, hardships and
sufferings, to have brought us to our end of
troubles today. One minute silence.
Ghana is free
forever! And here I will ask the band to play
the Ghana National Anthem.
Reshaping Ghana's
destiney, I am depending on the millions of the
country, and the chiefs and the people, to help me
to reshape the destiny of this country. We are
prepared to pick it up and make it a nation that
will be respected by every nation in the world.
We know were going
to have difficult beginnings, but again, I am
relying n your support.... I am relying upon
your hard work.
Seeing you in
this... It doesn't matter how far my eyes go,
I can see that you are here in your millions.
And my last warning to you is that you are to stand
firm behind us so that we can prove to the world
that wen the African is given a chance, he can show
the world that he is somebody!
We have awakened.
We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now one,
there is a new African in the world!
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