Kwame Nkrumah: A president who was buried three times

Like everyone else, I read about him in history books with what now emerges to be a missing detail that I was to learn as I stood at his place of burial.

The detail was of him being buried three times. Yes, three times— well, that sounds far-fetched, right?

While in Ghana on a recent tour representing the Kenya Editors Guild at the Africa Media Convention, I learned that when Kwame Nkrumah was in exile in Guinea Conakry, he served as the second president of the country. That is also an interesting one. We will get to that part of the story in a moment.

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First, let’s take a step back. It was during the Media Convention, that I got a chance to tour Nkrumah’s Mausoleum and Memorial Park located in downtown Accra. The mausoleum, which sits on a five-acre piece of land, was built in July 1992

It stands at the spot where Nkrumah made the declaration of Ghana’s independence. At the entrance of the park, you are greeted with an ocean blue 1957 Cadillac 62 series, one of the presidential vehicles that he used from 1957 until his overthrow in 1966. The car was gifted him by United States President John F. Kennedy.

After a few photos next to the car I was received by Memorial Park Guide Kweku Frank Aidoo, who took me on the memorable tour. Inside the park stood a gigantic structure depicting a tree cut off at its trunk. I learned it implied the unfinished work and vision of Nkrumah. The remains of Ghana’s first president and his wife, Fathia Nkrumah rest under the shadow of the tree trunk, literally.

Within the mausoleum is a museum that displays objects from various stages of Nkrumah’s life. On the wall hangs photos of the great man of Ghana that show his personal life and political career.

I couldn’t help but notice his close ties with the founding fathers of several African countries including Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania’s Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and Guinea Conakry's first President Ahmed Sekou Toure, among others.

It was here that I learned through Kweku’s briefings that after the coup in Ghana which deposed Nkrumah, he was rescued by Guinea’s Toure. He arrived in Conakry on March 2, 1966, and remained there with family members, his close advisors and a few other people who accompanied him.

At the airport, Toure declared that Kwame Nkrumah would be with him as “the head of state and secretary-general of the Guinean Democratic Party.” That then follows that Guinea was run by the two leaders within the time that Nkrumah was there. We are told it was a mutual agreement inspired by the respect Toure had for Nkrumah.

About six years later, on April 27, 1972, Nkrumah died of cancer while receiving treatment in Romania.

President Toure declared three days of national mourning throughout Guinea, Kweku the guide says.

Nkrumah’s old friend Kojo Botsio flew to Conakry with Nkrumah’s remains from Romania, and his funeral was scheduled for May 16.

Several heads of state and delegations from various countries offered their condolences to Nkrumah’s widow and her children. In his remarks during Nkrumah’s funeral and burial, Toure declared, “Nkrumah is not Ghanaian, he is an African. Nkrumah will never die.” That, from a president who was also a close friend of Nkrumah, signalled conversations regarding his burial site, the guide explains.

There were requests made by Ghanaians and Nkrumah’s mother, who was blind at the time, that her son’s body be transported back to Ghana.

President Toure declared that would only happen if the Ghanaian government would provide an official guarantee that Nkrumah would be accorded final honours befitting a founding president.

After an agreement was signed between Guinea and Ghana, Nkrumah’s body was exhumed three months after burial and transported in a silver coffin that is still preserved at the museum we toured in Accra. The body was taken to his native village Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana, where he was buried for the second time.

In 1992, after requests from several African leaders, Nkrumah’s body was exhumed and transported to Accra, where the mortal remains now lie. When I asked about the state of the body at the time of his third burial, Kweku the guide said it was in good condition because it had been embalmed using traditional Egyptian methods.

Next to the mausoleum is Nkrumah’s bronze statue with his hand symbolically pointing forward, it is inscribed his slogan, “Forward ever, backwards never.”

There is also a large structure featuring five of Nkrumah’s photos, each bearing a different facial expression, along with a black star and his famous quote: “I am not African because I was born in Africa, I’m African because Africa was born in me.”