Watch throwback video of Dr Kwame Nkrumah ICONIC Independence Speech

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Makay
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Dr Kwame Nkrumah

A throwback video of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s iconic Independence Day speech has resurfaced on Ghana’s 69th Independence Day celebrations.

Sixty-nine years ago today, Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, officially declared the independence of the Gold Coast from British colonial rule, making Ghana the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence.

As Ghana celebreate it 69th independence today, we celebrate the courage, sacrifice, and vision of those who fought for our freedom and laid the foundation for the nation we proudly call home.

Read Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s full speech, Sixty-nine years ago today:

“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 of 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 from 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, that 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 to create our own African 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 on 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 when 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!”

Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama, during the 68th Independence Anniversary celebration last year, announced that declassified documents from the United States archives reveal CIA plotted the removal of  Ghana’s first president, the late Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

According to John Mahama, declassified US intelligence documents showed that the CIA was behind the coup that removed Nkrumah while he was out of the country.

Speaking at the 68th Independence Day parade at Jubilee House on March 6, 2025, stated, “The verdict of history is now loud and clear. Declassified documents from the United States archives reveal that this was a coup inspired and engineered by the CIA”.

“Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our nation, envisioned an industrialised, self-reliant Ghana whose citizens have the highest standard of economic life and the greatest sense of self-esteem, rooted in patriotism and Pan-African unity.

He added, “But on February 24, 1966, a joint military and police coup d’état shattered that dream, plunging Ghana into decades of instability and military takeovers.”

Watch the video below: