Education Minister Hon. Haruna Iddrisu has called on a newly established 13-member curriculum review committee to definitively resolve Ghana’s long-standing debate over its foundational history.
Speaking at the inauguration of the team tasked with evaluating the Kindergarten to Primary 6 curriculum, the Minister emphasized the urgent need to anchor the nation’s historical narrative with clarity and pride.
“So I’m at a loss that at 68 years, we are still grappling with who are the founders of Ghana and who is the founding leader of Ghana or who is the founding father of Ghana.
“This must be a settled matter, in every country that has founding fathers”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
Addressing the committee in Accra, Hon. Iddrisu challenged them to end the national uncertainty through rigorous academic review and historical accuracy in curriculum development.
In his remarks, the Minister criticized the continued ambiguity surrounding the issue arguing that after nearly seven decades of independence, such questions should no longer persist in the minds of citizens, especially schoolchildren.
Hon. Iddrisu insisted that Ghana’s younger generation deserves a definitive and well-documented national narrative rooted in truth, rather than one marked by political debate or historical revisionism.
“We must know and teach our true history with pride. Anyone who abandons his past and history, loses his way to their future, I’m told”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
Kwame Nkrumah and Historical Certainty
The Minister stopped short of making a unilateral declaration but signaled his position strongly in favor of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as Ghana’s founding leader.
“It’s reasonable to conclude that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Osagyefo is the founding leader of Ghana.
“If at this age, you still want school children to be asking fathers and mothers who is the founder of Ghana, who are the founders of Ghana, then there is a problem”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
He urged the committee to end what he described as an unnecessary and confusing debate.
“At 68 years, you shouldn’t be asking who birthed you as a country,” he added, chastising all who fuel the confusion around the topic for ill political motives.
He urged firm societal rejection of any and all takes that digress from the truth on who birthed the republic of Ghana.
Academics and Historians
Hon. Iddrisu, while acknowledging the contributions of other historical figures, urged the academic community to bring objectivity and factual rigor to the curriculum review process.
He referenced several distinguished Ghanaian historians to underscore the importance of grounding the nation’s foundational narrative in credible literature.
“I’m sure many of you growing up, including those who are even instigating this debate, were yourselves students of histor – whether you have read Professor Buah or Professor Albert Adu Boahene or Professor Baku or Professor Kokoi Odotey or Professor Robert Adu-Afful and others”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
He challenged any academic with a more compelling historical narrative to present it, particularly in comparison to Nkrumah’s landmark call for independence.
“I’m not sure any of you has better literature that can go and substitute, when you say, ‘self-government now’ or ‘self-government in the possible future.’ If any of you has a better literature or narrative, which is historical, you are free to share it with us”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
Premised on this, he explained that historical facts remain and no attempt to rewrite them will prevail, particularly as Ghana marks its 68th year of independence under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama.
Resolving the Debate
While not dismissing the role of other contributors to the independence struggle, Iddrisu emphasized the need for clarity and proper contextualization within the nation’s educational framework.
“That is not to say that I don’t recognize what the contributions of other founding fathers were in our independence struggle, but place each of them where they historically belong with the facts and literature supporting those matters”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
He concluded with a direct appeal to the committee, tasking them to ensure that future generations obtain enough soundness on the issue to resist any future attempts at distorting the truth.
“I don’t want Ghanaian children to grow up not knowing who its founding fathers are or who its foundational leader was, and I expect that your review will settle the debate on this particular matter”
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education
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