President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday commissioned the renovated and modernised Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, a year after cutting the sod for the commencement of work on the project.
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. According to the president, it is for this reason that he 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 modernised 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 president noted.
The Park now has facilities including a presidential library, receptive facility, mini-amphitheater, restaurant, freedom wall, and a digitalised 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 synchronised audiovisuals, the first of its kind in West Africa.
The thirty million cedi (GH¢30million) modernised 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,” the president noted.