Kwame Nkrumah Museum was built on the old Polo Ground which was dedicated to “Osagyefo” Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1992. The aim of the museum was to compass the history and legacy of Kwame Nkrumah who is believed to be the founding father of Ghana
The museum is located right opposite the supreme court of Ghana and happens to be in the main business centre of Accra. Just in front of the museum is the statue of Kwame Nkrumah which unfortunately have it heat cut off due to the fact that his statue was vandalized after he was overthrown through a military coup in 1966. The museum happens to be one of the biggest historic museums in Ghana.
Some of the well-known photographs in the museum include Dr Nkrumah’s pictures with Queen Elizabeth of England, Pope Pius XII, Fidel Castro, President Nasser of Egypt and John F. Kennedy of U.S.A among so many dignitaries.
After his overthrown, Nkrumah took refuge in the Republic of Guinea, where he stayed and was made a co-president to President Sekou Toure till he was diagnosed of prostate cancer and died in Romania while seeking for treatment.
The body of Nkrumah was sent to Guinea where he was given a state burial by the Republic of Guinea on May 1, 1972. “Betrayed in Ghana, he found himself once again on free soil in Guinea, co-president of the Republic, to the great surprised of the imperialist powers enclosed in bourgeois legalist. With Nkrumah, African unity became an irresistible force. That is why this thinker and man is not a Ghanaian, but an African – even more –just a man”. Was the statement by the then president of Guinea during the famous state burial. This declaration was regarded as a knock-on message to how he had been treated by his own people, Ghanaians and the western powers that many believed were behind the coup d’état that saw his overthrow.
After months of negotiations between the government of Ghana and the president of Guinea Sekou Toure, Sekou Toure reluctantly settled that Nkrumah’s body was to be exhumed and flown to Ghana on July 7, 1972. He was then buried at the State House in Accra, until 1992 when he was finally reburied at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, which was built on the same grounds which he declared independence for Ghana on 6th March 1957. Some of the things that Kwame Nkrumah used during his tenure as the first president of Ghana can be found in the museum.
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