The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle and Convenor of NkrumahFest, has urged Ghanaians to fight illegal mining as a tribute to Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

He said defending the land was the truest way to honour Nkrumah's legacy.

Addressing the durbar at Nkroful on Saturday during the 2026 NkrumahFest, Armah-Kofi Buah said: "As Minister responsible for Lands and Natural Resources, I respectfully call on all of us as citizens to join this government in this renewed fight against illegal mining and environmental degradation.

"Osagyefo loved this land as fiercely as he loved his people. To honour his legacy is to defend the soil beneath us," he said.

Armah-Kofi Buah said 117 years after his birth at Nkroful, Nkrumah's vision for self-determination and African unity remained relevant.

He described the pilgrimage to Nkroful as a sacred duty, noting that Nkrumah's authority lay not in his title but in his sacrifice for the continent.

The Convenor said Nkrumah's life should be judged by his enduring works - the Akosombo Dam, Tema Harbour and Township, the Motorway, and educational institutions such as KNUST, University of Cape Coast and the Ghana Medical School.

"He did not build for the next election; he built for the next century. That is the difference between a builder and a caretaker," he said.

Buah recounted Nkrumah's journey from a prison cell in James Fort to hoisting the national flag at independence, and his eventual overthrow, saying: "Between that prison and that fall, he built a country from scratch."

He said Nkrumah's call that "Africa must unite or perish" and his dictum "We face neither East nor West, we face forward," remained a survival warning for the continent amid climate change and neo-colonialism.

Citing the division of the Nzema people along the Tano River by colonial powers, he said colonial partitioning still haunted Africa.

Buah thanked President John Dramani Mahama and Parliament for placing the Journey to Nkroful on the national calendar and enacting Founders' Day into law.

NkrumahFest is a festival instituted by Mr Buah to celebrate the Pan-African legacy of Dr Nkrumah, promote pilgrimage to his birthplace at Nkroful, and inspire patriotism and unity.

This year's edition, the 117th anniversary of his birth, was held at the Nkroful Agricultural Senior High School park in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region on Saturday, September 19, 2026, on the theme: "Nkrumah @117: Celebrating His Enduring Legacy – Africa Must Unite or Perish."

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