This week in 1972: Dr Kwame Nkrumah gets buried at Nkroful
- Ghana's first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was buried on 9 July 1972 after his body was returned to Ghana from Guinea
- President Touré, the then president of Guinea, was beseeched by Nkrumah's mother that she wanted to touch her son's body before leaving the earth
- Dr Kwame Nkrumah died in Bucharest, Romania at the age of 62 after six years in exile in Guinea, far away from his birthplace of Nkroful
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On 9 July 1972, exactly 48 years ago, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana, was buried at his hometown in Nkroful near Tarkwa in the Western Region of Ghana.
Before the burial, Nkrumah's aged mother, Madam Elizabeth Nyaniba, had beseeched the then president of Guinea, President Touré to allow the body to be returned to Ghana.
In Nyaniba's own passionate and famous words,
“I want to touch the body of my son before he is buried, or I die.”
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The return of his body to Ghana had been preceded by lengthy negotiations between Ghana’s military rulers and the government of Guinea that lasted for more than two months.
Nkrumah's mother, who also indicated that she would like her son’s body embalmed and kept permanently on public display, had her desire granted, after which the burial ceremony was held.
Dr Kwame Nkrumah died on 27 April 1972 in Bucharest, Romania after six years in exile in Guinea, far away from his birthplace of Nkroful. He was 62 years old.
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President Kwame Nkrumah was unconstitutionally ousted from office through a military coup launched by the National Liberation Council (NLC) with the code name Operation Cold Chop. It happened on 24 February 1966 while he was in Peking (today’s Beijing).
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