Will Africa ever heed Nkrumah’s call?

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”.