Government to spend 390 million cedis on Nkroful mausoleum

Nkroful (W/R), April 3, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday said government would spend 390 million cedis to rehabilitate the mausoleum of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah at Nkroful as part of plans to make the town an important tourist destination. The President donated 50 million cedis towards the fund.

He said the Accra mausoleum would also continue to receive the deserved attention and care befitting the final resting place of Ghana's first President. President Kufuor said this when launching a 50 billion-cedi Kwame Nkrumah Education Trust Fund (KNETFUND) at Nkroful.

The fund was to promote education among the people of Nzema, Ghana and Africa. It also aims at providing financial aid, material assistance, as well as promoting female education and the study of science, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).

President Kufuor said as part of the policy to honour the nation's former leaders, the government has decided that all the birth and final resting places of past political leaders would be developed into tourist sites.

To this end, Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo region and Gwollu in Upper West would be developed to the memory of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister in the Second Republic, and Dr Hilla Liman, President in the Third Republic.

President Kufuor told the youth that there could be many Nkrumah's among them, if they used the advantage of education, organised and disciplined life and perseverance in whatever goals they set for themselves.

He commended the chiefs and citizens of Nzema for the establishment of the fund and urged them to work hard towards its target. He reminded them to manage the fund honestly and transparently to sustain the confidence of the contributors.

Awulae Agyefi Kwame II, Omanhene of Nsein Traditional Area and president of the Nzema Manle Council, appealed to President Kufuor to include the Coconut Industry in the President's Special Initiatives (PSI). He said when this is done, coconut farmers in the Volta, Central and Western regions would benefit immensely.

Awulae Kwame warned that if the government does not act quickly to save the coconut industry, which had been severely affected by the Cape Saint Paul wilt disease, all the good plans and programmes by the district assemblies and the traditional authorities would hardly be implemented. He appealed for government's assistance towards the building of infrastructure for the Adventists Training College, located in the area, which, he said, had so far trained 108 teachers and that the chiefs and people of the Nzema area would benefit greatly from the school's programmes.