2nd Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual and Cultural Festival

The 2nd Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual and Cultural Festival has opened at the University of Ghana’s Great Hall.  The Opening Ceremony which was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, was launched by the Minister of State for Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, who represented His Excellency The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The theme of this year’s festival, taking place from June 26-30, 2017 is, “Global Africa 2063: Education for Reconstruction and Transformation”.

In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor noted that the idea of a Pan-African Intellectual and Cultural Festival as a biennial event on the University calendar, was led by the first occupant of the Kwame Nkrumah Chair, Prof. Kofi Anyidoho in 2010.  Paying tribute to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Prof. Oduro Owusu said, Africans in all parts of the world and in Ghana have greatly benefited as a result of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s comprehensive vision of transformative agenda founded on strong intellectual foundations.

Please click here to access the full text of the Vice-Chancellor’s remarks at the Opening Ceremony.

In his address, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State for Tertiary Education, who represented His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo said that if African scholars had heeded the calls to unabashedly construct scholarship on strong indigenous foundations, African would have attained unassailable levels of intellectual achievement, and thereby look first within, for African solutions, “where AU’s agenda for 2063 would prioritize self-reliance in the reconstruction and transformation of education.”  He declared the Festival open on His Excellency the President’s behalf.

Please click here to access the full text of Prof. Kwesi Yankah’s address, delivered on behalf of His Excellency the President.

Prof. Hilary McDonald Beckles delivered a captivating keynote address, and held the audience spell bound after which he received a standing ovation.  Sir Hilary Beckles presentation set the tone for the way forward, arguing for pan-Africanism to the mid-twenty-first century.

https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/pan-african-agenda-21st-century

Earlier, the Director of the Institute of African Studies, Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata and Prof. Horace Campbell, Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies, in separate messages, welcomed the gathering and gave the purpose.   Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, a former Vice Chancellor, of the University of Ghana, introduced the keynote speaker, and delivered the concluding remarks at the ceremony.  He urged Pan-Africanists and indeed all Africans to seek true development that touches and affects Africans across the globe, and thanked all who had come from far and wide to be a part of the historic festival. 

Other highlights of the 2nd Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual and Cultural Festival were a photo and painting exhibition entitled, Kwame Nkrumah: The Spirit, evenings of poetry and song with Professor Anyidoho, An Evening of Theatre and Film, entitled, “Until Someone wakes up”, a Theatre Night featuring Mohammed ben-Abdallah’s, The Trial of Mallam Ilya, directed by M. Africanus Aveh, and a documentary series, “Sights and Sounds of Ghana since Independence”.  All academic sessions took place at the School of Law Auditorium.

Later in the evening, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu hosted some members of the various delegations and officials from the Institute of African Studies to a reception at the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge.

Sir Prof. Hilary Beckles (sitting) with Prof. Horace Campbell