Work starts on Pan-African museum

The Essikado Traditional Council in the Western Region is to establish a museum and a Pan-African Centre in memory of the late Nana Kobina Nketsia IV, a former paramount chief of the traditional area.

The complex to be constructed, in collaboration with the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, is estimated to cost more than GH¢1.5 million and will also feature memorabilia of some eminent Pan-Africanists who contributed to the emancipation struggle of Africa, such as George Padmore, Paa Grant, W. E. B. Dubois, Malcom X and Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

The Omanhene of the Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, also the instrumental person behind the project, said when completed, the facility would be a centre of excellence for students in the metropolis and beyond.

He said  the project was in two phases; one involving the construction of the museum and the centre, and the second  involving the building of a lecture theatre, a conference hall and accommodation for guests.

The project is being supported by Jonmoore International Ltd, a transport and logistics company in Tema, as well as other individuals and organisations.

Launch

At the ceremony to launch the project in Essikado, near Sekondi last Tuesday, Jonmoore International presented a cheque for GH¢50,000, while a Takoradi-based South East Company and Support Services Limited also presented GH¢5,000 as seed money to kick-start the project.

Four trees were planted to represent culture and positive action, while the remaining two represented Malcom X and Kwame Ture, an unsung Pan-African activist.

Family members of some of the Pan-Africanists in the diaspora attended the function, which also saw the youth choir of Our Lady of the Sea Cathedral in Takoradi providing innovative renditions of African emancipation and choral compositions of Bob Nester Marley and other Ghanaian and African greats such as Ephraim Amu.
The traditional drumming troupe from Sekondi also thrilled the audience with Kete and Adowa pieces.

Remarks

The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) for Sekondi/Takoradi, Mr K. K. Sam, stressed the need for Africans and those of African descent to cherish and maintain their roots, saying, "let us celebrate our past heroes and this will tell the struggle of Pan-Africanism."

The Managing Director (MD) of Jonmoore International, Mr Hilton John Mitchell, recognised the contribution Nana Nketsia was making to educate schoolchildren by setting aside two days in a week to teach Pan-Africanism in the classrooms and the role the aforementioned names played in the struggle for Africa emancipation.

He expressed the hope that in the near future, people could access information at the centre through the Internet and called on people with interest in Pan-Africanism to contribute their quota towards the success of the project.

Rabbi Kogan Halevi of the Panafest Secretariat in Accra said establishing a museum and the centre to tell the story of and recount Pan-Africanism to the young ones was an obligation.

"We need to know the struggle about the Pan-African movement and its significance to Africans and those of African descent," he said.