After President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, 4th July 2023, commissioned the renovated and modernised Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, a musical concert is set to be held on Friday, July 7, 2023, to outdoor the facility to the general public.
Scheduled to start at 8 pm, the event dubbed ‘Re-ignition Concert’ is expected to be entertaining as musicians Samini, Kofi Kinaata, the High School Band among others have been billed to perform. Also on the bill is ace disc jockeys Andy Dosty. The event will be hosted by Merqury Quaye.
According to organisers, the event is free.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has said six thousand (6,000) frontline workers will be on hand to assist visitors to the renovated Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial 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.
It is for this reason that President Akufo-Addo instructed the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, to close it down temporarily for renovation to be undertaken.
Addressing the gathering at the ceremony, the President noted 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 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,” he said.
The President continued, “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 Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, which attracted some ninety thousand visitors annually before the renovation, is now expected to attract over one million tourists annually.