The family of the late founding President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah has agreed to submit his artefacts and memorabilia to the Museum of African Liberation to be established in Zimbabwe, according to media reports monitored here on Thursday.
Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK) chief executive Kwame Muzawazi told the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation that the artefacts, which are currently in London, left Africa in the late 1960s and would be repatriated to Africa.
“The Institute of African Knowledge, which is in partnership with the government of Zimbabwe, is pleased to announce that the Kwame Nkrumah family has agreed to submit artefacts and memorabilia from the liberation struggle of the founding president of independent Ghana, the first president, the first head of state of post-colonial Ghana, President Kwame Nkrumah,” Muzawazi said.
He said the repatriation of the artefacts is expected to “happen in the next few months.”
“And it is a coup in terms of African renaissance, in terms of repatriation of African heritage that is found in the world and different museums, houses and so on.
“These artefacts were about to be deposited in the British museum but thanks to the intervention by the Institute of African Knowledge and the Thabo Mbeki foundation they will be housed in Zimbabwe,” Muzawazi said.
The proposed Museum of African Liberation will showcase artefacts, memorabilia and literature from African countries that waged wars of liberation from colonial bondage.
It is the brainchild of INSTAK, a pan-African organisation based in Harare whose other projects include publication of the Book of African Records and the Africa Fact Book, the latter a joint initiative with the African Union Commission.
JN/APA