His Excellency President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday reopened the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, a main tourist site located in the centre of Accra to remember the country’s first Head of state, in the expectancy of strengthening tourism.

The park, which was established in 1992 under the late JJ Rawlings administration has just completed its renovation. However, the Akufo-Addo-led government has initiated a five-year project to stimulate tourism and hospitality as crucial drivers of socio-economic development.

Currently, the newly refurbished park houses a state-of-the-art presidential library, reception outfit, mini-amphitheatre, restaurant, mini artefact showroom, Freedom Walk arena, and a digitalized payment system.

During the commissioning ceremony, Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo mentioned the government intends to make the structure one of the best tourism and heritage attractions in West Africa.

“The burial site of Kwame Nkrumah must be appropriate to his status as the outstanding Pan-Africanist of this generation and for his exceptional contribution to the liberation of Africa from colonialism and imperialism,” President Akufo-Addo uttered.

Nana Addo expects that the park, which lured some 90,000 visitors annually before the renovation, would be able to attract over one million tourists annually after the refurbishment.

In his statements, Pierre Laporte, the World Bank country director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, mentioned the World Bank was pleased to have assisted with the renovation and will proceed to sponsor Ghana’s tourism industry. “Kwame Nkrumah is to this day considered one of the most important leaders of the 20th century.”

© 2023 • Story By Edem Latsu Nukafu
Writer’s email: edemlatsu093@gmail.com