Are you aware that though Philip Gbeho is credited for composing Ghana’s National Anthem, the lyrics of the anthem currently sang in the country were not written by him?
Read full articleFor years, Ghanaians have sang the “God bless our homeland Ghana…” anthem on various occasions in schools, communities and even sometimes church as well as national events.
But according to a promoter of the traditional religion, Osofo Kofitse Ahadzi, the national Anthem we know so well is not the original anthem composed and sang during Ghana’s independence.
According to him the original lyrics were changed to the present one after the overthrow of Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Sharing the original lyrics in an interview, Osofo Ahadzi said the original national anthem was
“Lift high the flag of Ghana,
The gay star shining in the sky,
Bright with the souls of our fathers,
For whose shade we'll live and die!
Red for the blood of the heroes in the fight,
Green for the fruitful farms of our birth-right,
And linked with these the shining golden band
Which marks the richness of our Fatherland.”
GhanaWeb’s checks have revealed that indeed the lyrics of the anthem have been changed.
According to a 2019 tweet by GHANA FACTS & HISTORY, the current lyrics were written by Prof. Michael Kwame Gbordzoe, a scientist by profession.
According to the tweet “He wrote the lyrics of the National Anthem." God Bless Our Homeland Ghana". It has been in Use from the 1970s till date. The anthem was originally written and composed by Philip Gbeho and adopted in 1957, but was discarded by the Government in the 1960's.”
The lyrics Prof. Gbordzoe wrote at a time he was a student at the Bishop Herman College in the 1970s was chosen from many, after a competition was launched to recompose the anthem.
According to Prof. Baffuor Agyeman-Duah, a historian and former senior UN governance advisor, General Kutu Acheampong called for a new anthem to make the existing one (composed in 1957 by Philip Gbeho) more nationalistic.
“The current national anthem ‘God bless our homeland Ghana,’ was on the directions of Acheampong (because) the original one was by Philip Gbeho in 1957, ‘Lift High the Flag of Ghana,’ that was the first national anthem.
“It was Acheampong, who in 1974, asked that it be recomposed because it has to be more nationalistic. ‘God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong’,” the professor said whilst making submissions on Net 2 TV’s ‘The Seat’ in 2021.
Here are the full lyrics of Ghana's original Anthem
1. Lift high the flag of Ghana,
The gay star shining in the sky,
Bright with the souls of our fathers,
Beneath whose shade we'll live and die!
Red for the blood of the heroes in the fight,
Green for the fruitful farms of our birth-right,
And linked with these the shining golden band
Which marks the richness of our Fatherland.
2. We'll live and die for Ghana,
Our land of hope for ages to come!
Shout it aloud, O Ghana,
And beat it upon the drum!
Come from the palm-lined shore, from the broad northern plain,
From the farm and the forest, the mountain and mine.
Your children sing with ancient minstrel lore:
Freedom for ever, for evermore!
3. God be with us in Ghana
And make our nation great and strong,
Brave to defend for ever
The cause of freedom and of right.
For ever the flag of Ghana proudly flies
In distant seas or else beneath our skies.
Let peace and fellow-feeling be our might,
And may our name be a radiant light.
4. This be our vow, O Ghana,
To live as one, in unity,
And in your strength, O Ghana,
To build a new fraternity!
Africa waits in the night of the clouded years
For the spreading light that now appears
To give us all a place beneath the sun:
The destined ending of a task well done.
And here are the lyrics of Ghana's current Anthem
God bless our homeland Ghana,
And make our nation great and strong,
Bold to defend for ever,
The cause of Freedom and of Right.
Fill our hearts with true humility
Make us cherish fearless honesty,
And help us to resist oppressor's rule
With all our will and might for evermore.
Hail to thy name, O Ghana,
To thee we make our solemn vow:
Steadfast to build together
A nation strong in Unity;
With our gifts of mind and strength of arm,
Whether night or day, in mist or storm,
In every need what'er the call may be,
To serve thee, Ghana, now and evermore.
Raise high the flag of Ghana
And one with Africa advance;
Black star of hope and honour,
To all who thirst for liberty;
Where the banner of Ghana freely flies,
May the way of freedom truly lie
Arise, arise, O sons of Ghanaland,
And under God march on for evermore.
Raise high the flag of Ghana
And one with Africa advance;
Black star of hope and honour,
To all who thirst for liberty;
Where the banner of Ghana freely flies,
May the way of freedom truly lie
Arise, arise, O sons of Ghanaland,
And under God march on for evermore.