Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Friday said the centenary celebration of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah was a call to Ghanaians, especially the youth to re-kindle the spirit of patriotism.
"It is a call to all of us particularly the youth to do what they can for the nation and not what they can get from the country," he said.
Vice President Mahama, launching the centenary celebrations in Accra, said the revival of the spirit of nationhood would inculcate in the younger generation higher values of service, and commitment to ideals of the commonwealth beyond material possession and power for self gratification.
The centenary celebrations would extend over the period September 2009 to May 2010; and would be organised around three clusters of activities and events, namely: Kwame Nkrumah's Birthday (September 21), Independence Day (March 6, 2010) and Africa Liberation Day (May 25, 2010).
Mr Mahama said it was worth celebrating the life and works of Dr Nkrumah because he was not just an individual but an institution in Africa and the Diaspora, who fought selflessly for the emancipation and independence of not only Ghana but for the total liberation of the African continent.
"Apart from being at the forefront of Ghana's independence and Africa's liberation struggles, the achievements of Nkrumah run through the length and breadth of Ghana. He laid a solid foundation in the country's infrastructural architecture," he said.
He said the many schools, roads, ports, health facilities, a hydro power project and vigorous industrialization and agricultural programmes formed the nucleus of a vision the first President had for Ghana.
Vice President Mahama said: "today as African countries enjoy the fruits of independence so is it imperative for us to appreciate the selfless leaders who kept their lives on the line to ensure that we achieved the memorable feat.
"For a people who do not recognize the significance of their history would eventually lose their bearing and values," Mr Mahama said.
Commenting on the attributes of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Mr Mahama said he preached African continental unity and demonstrated it at home and was a cultural icon in whom the embodiment of a truly African vision was personified in his mode of dressing and in the institutions he set up to project the cultural heritage Ghana.
"For those of us who either lived during his lifetime as adults or experienced it as teenagers can testify to a united country that he sought to build. A country devoid of tribalism and ethnic animosity," he said.
Mr Mahama stated that there had been no period in the history of Ghana in which the national consciousness, identity and unity were solid and indivisible except during the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah to the extent that every African and those of African descent identified themselves with Ghana and were even proud to hold Ghanaian passport.
"These are the attributes we need to cherish in order to build a prosperous and united country. So for a person to have lived and died a vicarious life for his compatriots there is no other tribute to give than keeping his name and works continuously aflame," he said.
Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, the Chairman of the centenary celebrations Committee, said between the three clusters, there would be a series of activities/events reflecting all the aspects of the celebrations and spread over the regions.
He said the highest point of the first cluster of events would be a series of events at Nkroful from September 17 to 21, and a Grand Pageant and Durbar of Ghanaians and African Peoples to be held at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park on September 21.
Activities to be captured during the year-long celebration include Political/intellectual interventions such as lectures, symposia, students' quizzes and exhibitions, Culture and Arts, renovation of monuments and memorials, and the re-enactment of significant events in Nkrumah's life and time.
Vice President Mahama later broke the ground for renovation of the Memorial Park and also unveiled the centenary logo.