Kwame Nkrumah

The independence of Ghana is meaningless until it is linked to the total liberation of Africa.

Kwame Nkrumah (21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was the leader of Ghana from 1951 to 1966.

Quotes

• Capitalism is too complicated a system for a newly independent nation. Hence the need for a socialistic society.
  • The autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah (1957), p. x

• We cannot tell our peoples that material benefits in growth and modern progress are not for them. If we do, they will throw us out and seek other leaders who promise more ... We have to modernize. Either we shall do so with the interest and support of the West or we shall be compelled to turn elsewhere. This is not a warning or a threat, but a straight statement of political reality.
  • Quoted in Canadian Institute of International Affairs International journal, Volumes 13-14 (1957), p. 160

• Capitalism is a development by refinement from feudalism just as feudalism is a development by refinement from slavery. Capitalism is but the gentleman's method of slavery.
  • Quoted in The Jewel of Africa, Vol. 1 (1968), p. 22

• The difference between myself and Castro is that I am not aligned and he is; I am a socialist and he is a communist.
  • Quoted in Asiaweek, Vol. 5 (1979), p. 28

• The independence of Ghana is meaningless until it is linked to the total liberation of Africa.
  • Quoted in A. E. Ekoko, Margaret A. Vogt, Nigerian defence policy: issues and problems (1990), p. 55