Stories and facts

Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and a towering figure in Africa’s liberation movement, spent his final years in exile, grappling with illness and isolation.

Overthrown in a 1966 coup, he sought refuge in Guinea under President Sékou Touré, who named him honorary co-president. By 1971, Nkrumah’s health had deteriorated. Suffering from severe back pain later confirmed as prostate cancer, he was flown to Bucharest, Romania, for specialised care.

Despite medical efforts, he died on April 27, 1972, at 62, far from Ghana, the nation he led to independence in 1957.

After the coup, Nkrumah lived quietly in Conakry, Guinea, but grew increasingly wary of threats. His cook’s mysterious death in Guinea fueled suspicions of poisoning, though no evidence confirmed this.

By August 1971, his pain became unbearable, prompting transfer to Romania. Doctors there diagnosed him with advanced prostate cancer.

Nkrumah, aware of his declining health, reportedly expressed a wish in his will: to have his body preserved like Vladimir Lenin’s, a Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader, or, if impossible, cremated with his ashes scattered across Africa.

Kwame Nkrumah’s death triggered a diplomatic struggle. Guinea initially refused Ghana’s request to repatriate his body, insisting on a state funeral in Conakry.

President Touré demanded concessions, including placing Nkrumah’s tomb before Ghana’s parliament and reinstating his former officials, which were conditions Ghana’s military government rejected. Nkrumah’s mother, Elizabeth Nyaniba, pleaded publicly: “I want to touch the body of my son before he is buried, or I die”.

After months of negotiations mediated by West African leaders, Touré relented. On July 7, 1972, Nkrumah’s body returned to Ghana. Thousands lined the streets as his remains lay in state before burial in his hometown, Nkroful.

Nkrumah’s death underscored tensions between his Pan-Africanist ideals and post-coup realities. While Guinea sought to claim him as a continental icon, Ghana reclaimed him as a national hero.

His burial in Nkroful, in the Western Region of Ghana, symbolised both his roots and the political complexities surrounding his legacy.

You can explore the collection to gain more insights into events that preceded the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966.