boolet: In my opinion, I think it will be erroneous to place Kwame and Nelson side by side. What Kwame did wasn't in any way greater than what Awo and Zik did. At best, we could regard the trio of Kwame, Awo and Zik as contemporaries. We must not forget that the end of the colonial era in most parts of Africa came to be due to the desire of the elites to 'continue' from where the colonialists stopped. However the anti-apartheid campaign by Nelson as well as other S/Africans was a more genuine undertaking. I cannot remember if Kwame was victimized to the extent of spending the core part of his youth in jail. If you ask me, Nelson was an activist, while Kwame and his Nigerian brothers only wanted the dividends of their exposure to the Western education by being champions over the "illiterate" masses of their people.

Okija_juju: I dont think any was greater than the Next.. This type of debate isnt progressive at all..


Typical Nigga attitude..

Both these men stood for something, fought for something and achived what they set out from the start. When dealing with humans especially Africans, you can never please everybody. Even in South Africa, Mandela is many things to many people, some good, some not so good.

What we all should rather take away is that these men have both left indelible footprints in the sands of time. Mandela was a South African, but even thhe almighty United States recognized his passing by flying their flags at half mast in respect. Upon his death, he assembled more world leaders than the Pope did at his funeral. Thats the mark of greatness. A mark of greatness that we no longer have in our society today.

Debates like these make rubbish of the legacy that Mandela & Nkrumah both stood for.






Rather than debate on such a stupid topic, why not ask who the next Nelson Mandela or Kwame Nkrumah or Patrice Lumumba would be..



Bloody Africans.. Always fighting to bring each other down..
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ImHotep-X:
Who was the greatest African? This is very debatable. Also, we need to define Africa and what it actually means to be African. Africa itself is so vague and vast that trying to define the term in a myopic way would obfuscate what it actually means to be African, and exempt a lot of people. And like Zuma, the South African president said a few weeks ago: "There's no Africa/African." A few other African academics share the same sentiments. Perhaps, we need to start defining it as "black" - to make it all inconclusive.

So to call either Kwame Nkrumah or Nelson Mandela the greatest black person ever is a tad bit too generous IMO. However, we can debate who was more influential, more popular and more accomplished between the two icons. I'd say Kwame Nkrumah was more influential to the "African" cause since he was the face of anti-colonial struggle and he paved the way for everyone else. All the subsequent pan-Africanists came from his school of thought and they all studied him. But when it comes to popularity and accomplishment, as a black man, then no one is ever going to touch Nelson Mandela. If you want to use the creation of OAU as a yardstick to measure greatness, despite the non-achievements of the OAU - then Muammar Gaddafi also deserve to be in the conversation for creating the AU.

Personally, for the greatest black person ever - I would lean towards Malcolm X and Steven Biko since they both provided blueprints on how to solve the unique problems of the black race. However, they never really accomplished much while they were alive, so we can't really call none of them the greatest. But some might argue that Jesus also never really achieved much while he was on this planet, but most people believe he was the greatest that ever lived. That's an argument for another day.

All in all, I believe there's no greatest African/black person. They all contributed to black history and were icons.

Edited.

Hotep!

Jamey Maxwell: Who the “F” iz Kwame Nkrumah?

amiskurie:
LOL,HE GAVE UNA FESTAC ?

Z3tdee: Kwame Nkrumah, the greatest African...

vccghana: Please dont say what you dont know am living in Ghana there is no president in Ghana that has done half of what Nkrumah did for Ghana

Shekson: The much publicised memorial service ladened wif a 'fake' interpreter and a 'flirting' US President.
Nelson's longevity gave him dis fame. If great 'non-violent' activists like 'Steve Bikko' among others also had the luxury of longevity, I doubt the 'greatness' element will still be attached to the violent activist.

psalm68: why didnt over 91 heads of state attended nkrumah's burial?
Chikenah

laykhorn: both were great men. They all contributed. If i am to choose the greatest blackman for the black struggle, i think i'll settle for Martin Luther King jnr or Malcolm x even though both never lived to age 40 and had lower achievement to show for it. THEY died of their struggles

psalm68: why didnt over 91 heads of state attended nkrumah's burial?
Chikenah

vccghana: i think Kwame Nkrumah is more influential than mandela

cosfrac: Who is Nkruma to Nnamdi Azikiwe of Africa talk more of Mandela

Quatermaine: Kwame Nkrumah vs Nelson Mandela..

Interesting debate.

Seriously, I see no need for comparisön between these Great men because they both did well, infact very well but not as much as Jesus!.

They both set goals and did everything within their powers to achieve their goals.

But since, the topic has been brought up, I must say that I have to chip in..

Kwame Nkrumah.. To be frank, I never knew this Man existed until today. I did some diggings into his life and discovered that Kwame's work can not be compared with that of Nelson..

Do You know what Apartheid means?. Apartheid refers to the a Political system and social system in S.A, in which only white people had full political rights and people of other races, especially black people, were forced to go to seperate schools, live in seperate areas. This is similar to the osu caste system in ancient nigeria where some set of people where refered to as osu and unnecessarily discriminated. Madiba fought against it, He did not fight to make the blacks takeover, He fought to make both parties EQUAL. Madiba did that.

So how then will you now compare "fighting for the independence of your country and contributing immensely to the development of your country' with what Madiba did.. Lol

I will end with some biblical quotes which explains that Madiba did greater works than Kwame.
*'The enemies of a man are that of his own household'. When you conquer them, you become great. Madiba fought against something in his home, which was not against outsiders (colonial masters etc) and he won. What he was fighting was internal.
*'for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us'. Madiba did the above for south africa.

Madiba > Kwame.
I rest my case.

chucky234: Allow those Ghanians to keep reasoning with their anu§ instead of their God given brain, Zik of Africa was far above Nkrumah whose only aim was to enslave Ghanians the moment he got hold of power.
Madiba had a heart you can only witness in fictional movies or novels,a man who sacrisfied his youth to firmly stood for what he believed in.
Only Fela Anikulapo Kuti come close,bravest of men.

MajeMedia: Mandela's victory was the last page in a book of self determination started by Nkrumah.
Nkrumah's mismanagement of Ghana stains his legacy where as Mandela's is spotless.

Okija_juju:


What the f|uck did Jesus do other than come to earth, piss off the Jews and the Romans, commited suicide and asked his followers to turn into pseudo cannibals to enter into his kingdom..


Please we are talking about real men who changed the course of history, not fairy tales..