The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has challenged Ghanaians to restore the sense of nationalism and patriotism that they are known for and contribute selflessly to propel the country’s socio-economic development. He expressed worry that the sense of nationalism and patriotism and wanting to die for the country that Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, promoted was waning. “We have to work to restore this sense of nationalism and patriotism to make our nation one that we can be proud of,” he said at a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of Dr Nkrumah at the Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra. The ceremony, which was part of the Founder’s Day celebration, was attended by ministers of state, members of the Diplomatic Corps, traditional rulers, family members of Dr Nkrumah and Nkrumaists. President Mahama laid a wreath on behalf of the government and people of Ghana, while the Minister of Defence, Lt Gen Joseph Henry Smith, laid one on behalf of the security services, with Ms Samia Nkrumah laying one on behalf of the Nkrumah Family. The acting President of the Ga Traditional Council, Nii Dodoo Nsaki II, laid one on behalf of traditional rulers, while the Liberian Ambassador to Ghana and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr Rudolf Von Palmans, laid one on behalf of the members of the Diplomatic Corps. Two minutes’ silence was observed in memory of the Dr Nkrumah. President Mahama said Dr Nkrumah promoted the African personality, which was to encourage Africans to have confidence in their complexion and in themselves. In the same way, he said, Dr Nkrumah encouraged Ghanaians to be selfless and have the urge to die for the country, noting that it was only when Ghanaians began to show patriotism and nationalism and a desire to sacrifice for the country that the Ghana could develop and compete with other countries in the world. He said one significant achievement of Dr Nkrumah was his contribution to building the human resource of the country by investing much in education. He, therefore, affirmed the government’s commitment to invest a chunk of the national budget in the educational sector. He stressed that any nation that committed a lot of resources to education would create the kind of human resource needed to support its development. President Mahama said Dr Nkrumah’s investment in the industrialisation of Ghana was still relevant and mentioned the Akosombo Dam, the Accra-Tema Motorway and the Tema township as some of the visible signs of Dr Nkrumah’s vision. He said it was that vision that put Dr Nkrumah far ahead of his contemporaries, leading to some animosity against him, both externally and internally. President Mahama said because of the enviable role played by Dr Nkrumah, Ghanaians were held in high esteem when they travelled outside the country. The late President John Evans Atta Mills, by an Executive Instrument, instituted the Founder’s Day in memory of Dr Nkrumah in 2009 and declared it a statutory holiday.