US Congressional Delegation pays emotional visit to Nkrumah Mausoleum

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah,GNA

 

Accra, July 29, GNA-The United States Congressional Delegation led by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives on Monday paid an emotional and solemn visit to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and Memorial Park, as part of its state visit to Ghana.

The Delegation arrived at the memorial park at exactly 14:27 hours and was welcomed by Alhaji Osman, the Director of the Mausoleum.

The Leader of the Delegation, Speaker Pelosi assisted by other members of the delegation, laid a wreath in front of the bronze statue of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Afterwards, they observed a brief prayer with their hands held together in a solemn and emotional ceremony.

There was a session for photographs and exchange of pleasantries with the Director of the Mausoleum and few officials from the US Embassy in Ghana.

The 14-member delegation was divided into two groups and taken round the facility by two tour guides-Mr Edmund Quao and Ms Agatha Gosu-Dinku, who briefed them about the history of the memorial park and roles Nkrumah played in the country's independence struggle.

The tour of the facility took about an hour.

Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and Memorial Park was built in 1992 by the PNDC Government dedicated to the memory of Ghana's first President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

The memorial park was built on a former British Polo Ground where Ghana's independence was declared in 1957.

The Mausoleum is a magnificent marble monument and the final resting place of Dr Nkrumah and his wife Fathia Nkrumah.

The Mausoleum covers a total of 5.3 acres and contains two main edifices-Museum and Mausoleum.

The Mausoleum is the place where the mortal remains of Nkrumah have been interred while the Museum accommodates Nkrumah's personal belongings such as the books he authored and photograph archives of his public engagements.

In the park is the bronze statue of Nkrumah clad in cloth with his hand symbolically pointing forward.

There are also two springs of water on either side of the pavement and seven bare chests squatting statuettes flute blowers.

The Delegation, which included 12-member of the Black Caucus, would visit the Elmina and Cape Coast Castles and the "Door of No Return," at Assin Manso to observe the 400th Anniversary of the First Enslaved Africans Landing in America.

Members of the US Congressional Delegation, who visited the memorial park included James Clyburn, House Majority Whip, Congressman John Lewis, Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Bobby Rush, Energy and Commerce Committee, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Budget Committee, Homeland Security Committee and Judiciary Committee and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Appropriations Committee and Budget Committee.

Others are Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Energy and Commerce Committee and Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Hank Johnson, Judiciary Committee and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Agriculture, Education, Labour and House Administration Committee, Congressman Karen Bass, Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committee and Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Intelligence and Ways and Means Committee.

GNA

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