Yesterday, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, cut the sod to mark the beginning of the rehabilitation and modernization of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra.
Otherwise known as the Old Polo Grounds, the park is the location where Ghana’s Founding Fathers, led by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, declared the country’s independence on March 6, 1957.
Besides, this is a park containing a mausoleum that houses the mortal remains of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first President and his wife Fathia Nkrumah.
The work estimated at US$3 million and being done under the World Bank Tourism Development Project is scheduled to be completed on time for its opening to coincide with the country’s 66th independence anniversary in March next year.
The Ghanaian Times commends President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration for the project for a number of reasons.
For insufficient revenue accruing from the place and lack of budgetary support over the years, the facility constructed in1992 as a tourist site to preserve the memory of Dr Nkrumah had to be closed down and left to deteriorate.
The rehabilitation, therefore, is very important because without it, the park would have eventually been in total ruins for the nation to lose a monument which speaks volumes of its historical significance.
It is worthy of note that the renovation is being undertaken by an administration whose political tradition is opposed to that of Nkrumah and as such could have ignored the park to deteriorate into irreparable state and its debris eventually cleared to erase any trace of its existence.
This is an act to remind the country’s politicians that amid their differences, they should honour all those who have sacrificed in various ways towards the development of the country and the progress of the people.
Therefore, the situation where politicians demonise, vilify and smear their opponents and ignore their obvious contributions to national development must stop.
The government deserves the commendation also because of the additional facilities to be provided as part of the modernisation of the park –a museum, a Presidential Library, a training centre, a restaurant, a VVIP lounge, an artistic Freedom Wall and a Music and Light Fountain to boost night tourism.
The over 50 additional direct jobs and many indirect jobs to be created are also of great significance as they come in to reduce unemployment and related hardships.
The Ghanaian Times agrees with any other points made at the sod-cutting ceremony yesterday with regard to the park and its rehabilitation such as the one by Dr Awal that the rehabilitated park will fit the status of Ghana’s first President and also give fitting recognition to the country’s other founding fathers:
His other assertion that it will join the George Padmore Library and the WEB Du Bois Centre for Pan-Africanism to further concretise the Pan-African Triangular Centre and consolidate Ghana’s position as the foremost Centre of Pan Africanism and diasporan research is of global importance.
Let us maintain all the country’s monuments.
The Ghanaian Times hopes that all those who have roles to play in the execution of the project would be proactive enough to stem anything that would hinder its timely completion.
Besides, it is hoped that the contractors would do quality work to reflect the importance associated with park.
