She noted that “it is pleasing to be alive to see Dr Nkrumah’s vision, as the first president of Ghana, being revisited by the current government through the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), launched recently”.

Madam Animwaa Anin, 80, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Bechem in the Bono Region, observed that the then Dr Nkrumah-led administration introduced the planting of palm and rubber in the state farms through the Workers Brigade, which provided employment for many youths at the time.

“If previous presidents had held on to the vision of the country’s first President, job creation would have been rampant and unemployment non-existent, under Dr Nkrumah-led administration, the country was into massive palm plantation in the state farms, which led to the nation having the privilege to teach Malaysia the techniques of palm plantation and giving that country seedlings to commence its farming.

“The project was abandoned by successive governments and that it would be a great relief to the soul of Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah as his vision would live on, which would accumulate foreign exchange for the nation, Nkrumah never dies because his vision for the country, Africa and the rest of the world will live on.

“The government should use the planting for export and rural development programme to promote the development of selected export tree crops including cashew, coffee, oil palm, coconut, mango and rubber,” Madam Animwaa Anin stressed.

She is the only surviving member, and the youngest of the first 10 female MPs, under the CPP administration when she entered parliament at age 22 and represented the then Brong-Ahafo Region.