Gov't Denies Allegations By Nkroful Chiefs

The government has denied that President John Agyekum Kufuor made an election promise to return the body of Ghana?s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah to Nkroful. It has also denied that the President promised to automatically make Nkroful the district capital of Nzema East District if he became President.

Chiefs of Nzema, last Friday, asked President Kufuor to fulfill a campaign promise by returning the remains of the late President to Nkroful. The remains are currently at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in Accra, built in honour of the illustrious son of Ghana and Africa.

But Information and Presidential Affairs Minister, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey has in a statement, described the allegations by the chiefs as "a misrepresentation attributed to the President."

The statement said as part of his tour of the Western Region in September 2000 during the campaign, President Kufuor visited Nkroful where he paid a courtesy call on the chief of Nkroful, visited Dr Nkrumah's family house, his original mausoleum and the River Suble where Dr Nkrumah used to bath and play as a child.

"Commenting on these, Candidate Kufuor described the visits as sobering and historic and said that Nkroful would have served as a more attractive tourist destination if the remains of President Nkrumah had been left there. He did not promise to return the remains if he was elected President."

"...Government will give it the necessary consideration when an official request is properly made by the family of the late President,? the information Minister said.

The statement however said that government is gratified by the fact that 10 years after the alleged forced transfer of the body of the late President to Accra, the environment has now been created for those aggrieved by the move but gagged by the culture of the time to openly air their feelings now.

It described the move as ?one of the most eloquent testimonies to the unprecedented nature of the respect for human rights and individual freedoms, especially the freedom to speak one's mind without fear or arrest or harassment, engendered by Positive Change in Ghana."

On the upgrading of Nkroful to a district capital, the statement said President Kufuor acknowledged the important and historic role of the town. "But like his response to similar requests to him during his nationwide tour, he promised to give it serious consideration as President. Candidate Kufuor did not promise to automatically make Nkroful a district capital as President since he was certainly aware of the variety of considerations that went into such a decision," the statement added.