Nkrumah’s family falls in love with Akufo-Addo …for redeveloping Kwame Nkrumah memorial park

Samia Yaba Nkrumah, daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has placed on public record that she and the family of her late father were officially consulted and invited to add their ideas and suggestions into the redevelopment of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum which was commissioned yesterday, Tuesday, July 4, 2023.

Samia said the Nkrumah family is grateful particularly to President Nana Akufo-Addo for spearheading the redevelopment of the heritage project which is a symbol of African unity and the spirit of Pan-Africanism.

Samia’s expression of appreciation to Akufo-Addo in public comes as a surprise especially because of the sinister spin that some politicians added to the narrative of the conversation which heralded the redevelopment project.

Some has alleged that President Akufo-Addo would completely scrap off the name of ‘Kwame Nkrumah’ from the facility after its renovation and that the idea was to make the Nkrumah legacy become irrelevant.

However, speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Tuesday, Samia noted: “, I want o give credit where credit is due.  This renovated, re-modernized, re-developed, restructured Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum would not have been possible without the support, the encouragement and the consent of President Nana Akufo-Addo. So thank you for supporting this project, Mr. President.

“I am happy also that we have the library, and by the way, we were consulted in the Kwame Nkrumah Presidential Library, yes we were and it was our suggestion and I am grateful that everybody bought into it. What we see now might be a small library but in the years to come, with your help and your engagement of al Ghanaians and Africans we would have a worthy library of Pan-Africamism to give us more strength. So may the almighty God and the spirit of our ancestor, may the guide us. May they support us. May hey continue to give us the courage to do the right thing”, Samia added.

Samia Nkrumah explained her understanding of what the redeveloped heritage project represents: “..and  I tell you this is one of the places where we get the highest number of visitors.

“So the material gain is one thing. But as Africans, this is a Mecca for Pan-Africanism.  This is a place where we draw inspiration and strength to carry forward and to accomplish the unaccomplished mission and promise of our independence.

“For us, we gain spiritual strength from visiting this place because we know that  untimely, the future of Africans is in unity. This is a place of unity, of peace of strength, and of pride and power for the Black Star”

Akufo-Addo

The President, Nana Akufo-Addo,  was there in person to commission the facility.

He said the thirty million cedi (GH¢30million) modernized Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park is in line with plans by Government to make the Park one of the best tourism and heritage attractions in West Africa.

“As the outstanding pan-Africanist of his generation, the burial site of Dr. Nkrumah must be appropriate to his status and exceptional contribution to the liberation of Africa from colonialism and imperialism,” Nana Akufo-Addo noted.

He continued: “the Park, which was built in 1991 and opened to the public in 1992, in the time of the 1st President of the 4th Republic, His Excellency the late Jerry John Rawlings, had not seen any renovation since then, resulting in significant deterioration of the edifice.

“It is for this reason that I instructed the brilliant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, to close it down temporarily for renovation to be undertaken.

“It is gratifying to note that the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park has not only been renovated, but it has also been completely modernized to befit the status of the final resting place of the man who led us to independence in 1957, and became Ghana’s first President, the justly-celebrated Kwame Nkrumah. The Park now has facilities including a presidential library, receptive facility, mini-amphitheater, restaurant, freedom wall, and a digitalized payment and access system.”

The mausoleum has also been fully refurbished, with the tombstone upgraded, and the museum expanded with an audiovisual tunnel.

There is also an upgraded VVIP lounge, expanded recreational area, a modernized gift shop, and a fountain area with synchronized audiovisuals, the first of its kind in West Africa.