Kwame Nkrumah’s philosophy and ideology for decolonisation Africa is known was known as Nkrumaism, and published as Consciencism. Ideologically, it promoted unification of Africa under a carefully conceived socialist and unified continental government whose objective was to eradicate the economic exploitation associated with imperialism and the development of Africa.
In one of his most iconic speeches on the declaration of the independence of Ghana on 6th March 1957, Nkrumah declared that Ghana’s independence was meaningless unless it was intimately linked to the total liberation of Africa. According to him, Africa’s underdevelopment was the result of colonial exploitation and neo-colonial domination. Hence, he argued that only an industrialised Africa through a socialist ideological framework could provide a lasting remedy for Africa’s problems.
Although Nkrumah was influenced by a variety of perspectives including Marxism, he advocated for scientific socialism aligned with the humanist philosophy indigenous to Africa, which he regarded as egalitarian, collective, and non-exploitative.
His philosophy of philosophical Consciencism and his ideology of Consciencism are most clearly articulated in his influential 1964 book, Consciencism.