Death and state funeral of Kwame Nkrumah

April 1972 state funeral in Ghana

State funeral of Kwame NkrumahDate| April 27, 1972

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Location| Ghana
|  |  This article is part of a series about
Kwame Nkrumah

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* Early life and education

* * *

Gold Coast

* Pan-African Congress
* United Gold Coast Convention
* The Big Six
* Convention People's Party
* Positive Action
* General elections
* 1951
* 1954
* 1956

* * *

1st Prime Minister of Ghana

* Dominion of Ghana
* Decolonisation of Africa
* Ghana Independence Act 1957
* All-African Peoples' Conference

* * *

1st President of Ghana

* Nkrumah government
* 1960 constitutional referendum
* Congo Crisis
* Port Francqui incident
* CWAAD
* Winneba Ideological Institute
* Casablanca Group
* Non-Aligned Movement
* Kulungugu bomb attack
* 1964 constitutional referendum
* President for life
* 1965 parliamentary election
* Akosombo Dam
* National Liberation Council coup d'etat

* * *

Nkrumaism

* African socialism
* Anti-imperialism
* Classless society
* Cult of personality
* Egalitarianism
* Marxism
* Leninism
* Neocolonialism
* One-party state
* Pan-Africanism
* Self-determination
* Social justice
* State ownership

* * *

Legacy

* Death and state funeral
* Democratic People's Party
* Founders' Day
* Kwame Nkrumah Festival
* Mausoleum

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Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, died on April 27, 1972, in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.[1] Nkrumah died of an unknown but apparently incurable sickness. His body came back to Ghana where he had achieved independence in 1957 and had ruled the country approximately 13 years. Thousands of Ghanaians attended the funeral to bury the president.[2][3]

## Background

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Nkurumah disappeared from the public eye in Ghana after being overthrown by a coup d’état in February 1966 and had since been living in the Guinean capital of Conakry laying low.[3][1] Nkrumah suffered from an unknown sickness, with sources not mentioning the kind of disease. After he got sick, he was transferred to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, for better medication and treatment. However, after doctors and nurses tried their best, Nkrumah's sickness persisted, leading him to death. On 27 April 1972, Nkrumah died.[3][1][4]

## Return of his body

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On July 7, the remains of Nkrumah were transported back to Ghana aboard a specially arranged Guinean Air Force aircraft. Following his passing, negotiations between Ghana's National Redemption Council and President Sékou Touré of Guinea facilitated the repatriation of Nkrumah's body. Initially, President Touré of Guinea declined Ghana's requests for the repatriation, opting instead to grant Nkrumah a state funeral in Conakry, Guinea's capital. All flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the former President until his interment. Nkrumah's remains laid in state the following day before being transported to his home town of Nkroful for burial.[5]

## Funeral

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The funeral proceedings were carried by Radio Conakry, also known as the "Voice of the Revolution", which was Guinea’s national radio.[6]

## See also

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* Kwame Nkrumah

## References

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1. ^ a b c "Kwame Nkrumah | Biography, Education, | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-01-05. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
2. ^ "Shirley Graham du Bois and Kwame Nkrumah look over the open casket at state funeral for W. E. B. Du Bois, August 1963".
3. ^ a b c "The mystery around what actually happened to Kwame Nkrumah's body". GhanaWeb. 2023-04-10. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
4. ^ https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/The-mystery-around-what-actually-happened-to-Kwame-Nkrumah-s-body-1746578#google_vignette. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
5. ^ "Ghana Burial Set As Guinea Returns Body of Nkrumah". The New York Times. 1972-07-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
6. ^ Robinson, Daniel (2022-02-01). "Voice of the Revolution/Guinea - Funeral Observances for Kwame Nkrumah: 1972". The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. Retrieved 2024-05-14.

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