Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and Guinea's first president, Ahmed Sékou Touré
“The Ghanaian traitors have been mistaken in thinking that
Nkrumah is simply a Ghanaian. He is a universal man, underscoring the depth of
their ideological and personal connection.” – President Ahmed Sékou Touré.
Ahmed Sékou Touré, the first president of Guinea and a friend
of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, wasn’t an ordinary statesman whose
name could easily be erased from African history. The man who played a
significant role in the Organization of African Unity -OAU, now African Union, whose
parents were poor, illiterate farmers. He is affectionately referred to by her
mother as Sékou Touré, which means "Sheikh of the Order."
Like his contemporaries in Guinea, Sékou Toure grew up in
a simple, culturally and spiritually rigid environment. On January 29, 1922, he
was born in the city of Varana into a devout rural family. Ahmed Sékou Toure,
son of Alpha Toure, was a member of the "Mendinka" ethnic group that
led the resistance against French occupation.
He led the country's resistance to the French occupation
till the end of the eighteenth century. Ahmed Sékou Touré attended the Georges
Poire French education in Conakry after quitting religious education. After a
year of study, he was dismissed from the school in 1936 for planning a strike
to demand food for the students, but he kept up his reading to make up for the
lost time.
After that, he worked as a clerk for the French Niger
Foundation, a private organization, before leaving to take a position as a
clerk at the Guinean Postal and Telecommunications Authority. He then held
positions as a postal distributor and an accountant in the financial
department. Touré started the first postal and telecommunications workers'
union in Guinea after getting active in labor and trade union activities when at
the Postal Service.
Shortly after this union, he led the first successful 76-day
strike by Guinea's postal and telecommunications workers to raise pay and stop
arbitrary layoffs. In 1945, Sekou Touré became Secretary-General of the Postal
and Telecommunications Trade Unions, and then a leading member of the
Federation of Guinean Trade Unions.
Sékou Touré's political involvement began in the middle
of the 1940s. To free African nations from French rule, he formed the African
Democratic Rally, a party that became active in French West Africa, with the
help of Felix Houphouët-Boigny from Côte d'Ivoire and Leopold Senghor from
Senegal. Additionally, he started the Guinean Democratic Party, which grew to
be the biggest political organization in the nation.
When he arrived at the People's Palace, the 35-year-old
Guinean-African hero stood on the podium to deliver a sermon that was repeated
generation after generation. General de Gaulle was taken aback by the actions
of those greeting him in the streets of Conakry, shouting the word
"independence." The sermon fell on General de Gaulle like an ember in
the wild, because of the French dream in Guinea.
The French president angrily replied, "Well, you can
gain your independence. France will not protest, but there will definitely be
consequences.” After that momentous sermon on August 25 and the referendum on
September 28, Ahmed Sékou Touré became President of the Republic of Guinea on
October 2, 1958, with just 200 university graduates and a 95% illiteracy rate.
The only French colony in Africa that refused to continue
being associated with France was Guinea. France seized everything, including
the state house's furniture, after Guinea gained its independence in 1958. In
the end, they left Guinea empty. Today, the pain of Francophone African
countries gaining independence still hurts countries such as France, Belgium, America,
and Britain.
The unbreakable bond between Sekou Touré and Kwame Nkrumah
In an effort to bring the independent African states
together under a single banner, Sékou Touré visited Ghanaian President Kwame
Nkrumah. This visit had a significant influence on the founding of the
Organization of African Unity, which is now the African Union. Together, they
established the "Union of Guinea and Ghana," and Mali joined them in
1960 to become the Union of Independent African States.
On May 22, 1963, the presidents of thirty nations adopted
the Organization of African Unity's charter, which led to its creation during
the Addis Ababa Conference. On May 25, 1963, the organization's founding was
formally announced. Its headquarters will be in Addis Ababa, the capital of
Ethiopia.
Ahmed Sékou Touré and Kwame Nkrumah had a close
connection, a strong political alignment, and a shared dedication to
Pan-Africanism. Opposing colonial control and neocolonial influence throughout
the continent, both leaders were ardent supporters of African independence and
unity. Their cooperation on Pan-African projects and the OAU in 1963
demonstrated their ideological convergence.
When Guinea obtained independence and rejected the French
Community in 1958, France abruptly withdrew its backing, which was a major
testament to their relationship. According to accounts, Nkrumah's Ghana
responded by giving Guinea vital financial support in the amount of either
$10,000 (or £10,000) or $28 million. Mutual trust and appreciation were
strengthened by this act of solidarity, and Touré is said to have never
forgotten Nkrumah's assistance.
When Nkrumah was toppled in a military coup in 1966, the
intimate aspect of their connection was brought to light. In a show of
sympathy, Touré appointed him honorary co-president and granted him shelter in
Guinea. Touré emphasized the strength of their intellectual and personal bond
when he said, "The Ghanaian traitors have been mistaken in thinking that
Nkrumah is simply a Ghanaian; he is a universal man."
The depth of their relationship was demonstrated even after
Nkrumah passed away in 1972. Touré was first reluctant to release Nkrumah's
body to Ghana because of resentment over how Nkrumah had been treated and only
agreed after continuous diplomatic attempts. Their partnership continues to be
a potent representation of African leaders' solidarity and support for one
another.
In 1984, Ahmed Sekou Touré passed away in Cleveland,
Ohio, USA, while undergoing surgery. He was the head of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference's Islamic Peace Committee at the time. Decades after his
death, his principles, his fight against colonialism, and his pursuit of
African unity are still remembered by Africans.