Love him or hate him, but one thing is for sure, Kwame Nkrumah, one of the pilots of African unity, left an indelible mark on the continent.

When the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was launched in Addis Ababa in 1963, Nkrumah gave an impassioned speech to representatives of 31 African countries urging them to unite against colonialism and exploitation.

He advised the newly independent countries not to be complacent thinking that independence was the end of the struggle, but warned them to be on the lookout for what he termed "crushing and humiliating neo-colonialist controls and interference”.

It seems few heeded his call as many African countries are experiencing the above. 

Though Nkrumah was an ardent panafricanist, he slowly became overly protective of his seat back home, grew paranoid and enacted draconian laws, banned industrial strikes and instituted "legal dictatorship” to be president for life. He was overthrown three years after the Addis meeting.

But whatever personal weaknesses Nkrumah had, one cannot fail to see that he was a luminary. He foresaw that Africa’s wealth would be its undoing as it fueled the economies of many who coveted it; their only defence was unity.

Today, as Africa celebrates 50 years of the "Nkrumah warning”, the fissures in the African unity have failed to mend and countries have failed to work in common purpose. Will they ever?