• World
  • Jul 04

Who was Kwame Nkrumah?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park (KNMP).

• It is dedicated to Ghana’s founding President Kwame Nkrumah, a revered leader of the African independence movement. 

• Nkrumah was a pivotal figure in African history, renowned for leading Ghana to independence from British rule in 1957, and playing a crucial role in the Pan-African movement.

• Accompanied by Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, PM Modi laid a wreath at the memorial of the first Prime Minister and later the first President of the West African nation. 

• The memorial complex was dedicated in 1992, and is situated on the site of the former British colonial polo grounds, where the independence of Ghana was declared, in Accra. 

• Kwame Nkrumah was born September 1909, in Nkroful, Gold Coast (now Ghana) and died on April 27, 1972, in Bucharest, Romania. 

• He was a Ghanaian nationalist leader who led the Gold Coast’s drive for independence from Britain and presided over its emergence as the new nation of Ghana. 

• He headed the country from independence in 1957 until 1966. 

• The KNMP’s mausoleum, designed by Don Arthur, houses the bodies of Nkrumah and his wife, Fathia Nkrumah.

• It is meant to represent an upside-down sword which in Akan culture is a symbol of peace. It can also be viewed as an uprooted tree to signify the unfinished work of Nkrumah to totally unite Africa. The mausoleum is clad from top to bottom with Italian marble, with a black star at its apex to symbolise unity.

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