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God Bless Our Homeland Ghana
National anthem of	Ghana
Lyrics	Michael Kwame Gbordzoe
Music	Philip Gbeho
Adopted	1957

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God Bless Our Homeland Ghana

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana is the national anthem of Ghana. The anthem was originally written and composed by Philip Gbeho and adopted upon independence in 1957.

The current text was chosen some time after the 1966 coup in Ghana. Mr. Philip Gbeho’s text which was discarded at that time started with:

Lift high the flag of Ghana,
The gay star shining in the sky, etc.

The current lyric which has been in use since the 1970s was written by a student Michael Kwame Gbordzoe within the framework of a national competition.

Thus, the lyric of Ghana’s National Anthem is as follows:

God bless our homeland Ghana
And make our nation great and strong,
Bold to defend forever
The cause of Freedom and of Right;
Fill our hearts with true humility,
Make us cherish fearless honesty,
And help us to resist oppressors' 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 the midst of storm,
In ev'ry need, whate'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 to freedom truly lie;
Arise, arise, O sons of Ghanaland,
And under God march on for evermore!

Thus, although Mr. Philip Gbeho’s composition is still being used, the current lyric "God Bless our Homeland Ghana", etc. does not originate from him.

Michael Kwame Gbordzoe, who became a scientist by profession, having gained the "Diplom-Physiker" title from the University of Stuttgart in 1973 and the Doctor of Science (Dr. rer. nat.) degree from the University of Freiburg in 1977 in the Federal Republic of Germany, has drawn the attention of the Ghana Government to the fact that although his lyric has been adopted for the country’s national anthem since the 1970s, there has so far been no official Ghana Government recognition for his work. This anomaly, in view of the author, may be attributed to the abrupt changes in regimes in Ghana in the past. This message was addressed to the following official Ghana Government destinations:

The Chief Executive, Ghana@50 Secretariat in Accra on 19 October 2007.
The Ambassador of Ghana in The Federal Republic of Germany, Embassy of the Republic of Ghana, 10439 Berlin, on 9 June 2008. The Ghana Embassy in a letter of 17 September 2008 informed Dr. Michael Kwame Gbordzoe that copies of his letter had been forwarded to the Director of State Protocol and the Ministry of Information in Accra "with the view to resolving the problems".
Emails to the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana on 22 December 2008, amongst other addresses, the Speaker, the Majority Leader, The Minority Leader and Clerk of Parliament.
The issue of the correct author of the current lyric of Ghana’s national anthem "God Bless our Homeland Ghana" was also discussed on air at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Uniiq Fm programme ‘PTGlive,’ on 9 March 2008. The programme was hosted by the journalist Mr. Greg Mingle. During the programme, both the author and a representative of the Ministry of Information, Mr. James K. Amoah, were interviewed.

Hence, taking all pieces of available historical information into account, the onus of responsibility lies on the Ministry of Information and the State Protocol in Accra to put the records straight.

A scan of an old hand-written version of "God Bless our Homeland Ghana" by the author from his collection of School and other Poems dating back to his secondary school days is available on request. The author is prepared to submit the original for expert scrutiny if required (Contact: Ghana.Anthemlyric@gmail.com).