GHANA: The Leopard Emerged

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Ghana's Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah had had the court poet at work for days. As Nkrumah arrived with cavalry escort and walked past the lily ponds flanking his $280,000 state house, a crier raised his voice and chanted:

Sons of Ghana, we have assembled here in great joy. The path of progress is ours to blaze.

Nkrumah strode toward the grand ballroom, and the great talking drums, the atumpan, took up the poem:

Listen, Ghana, listen to the news of the day.

Nkrumah, the nation builder, The elephant that shatters the axe, The mighty one unmindful of bullets, He that tracks him does so in vain.

The Premier passed slowly under the crystal chandeliers (There is no hurry, no hurry, noble one. Walk slowly in majesty), took his seat in the state chair, grasped the golden, double-edged state sword and took his oath. Then he walked to the balcony and waved at the crowds, while the talking drums throbbed:

He has bestirred himself. The noble one has bestirred himself. The leopard emerges from his lair And walks slowly in majesty.

With that, Ghana became a republic within the British Commonwealth and many-splendored Nkrumah became its President.