First Ladies visit Nkrumah Mausoleum

Accra, July 3, GNA - Eight African First Ladies on Tuesday visited the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum to lay wreaths at the tomb of Ghana's foremost First Lady, Madam Fathia Nkkrumah.

The Ladies from Benin, Lesotho, Mali, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda and Niger were taken through the history of the independence struggle, the declaration of independence, the life and works of the first President, his death, burial, re-burial and eventual resting site.

Taking them round, Mr. William Hrisir-Quaye, an official at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park briefed the Ladies about the death of Fathia in Egypt her home country and how she was buried by the side of her husband, in Ghana.

They were shown some of the famous things the first President used during his lifetime including his school bed at the Lincoln University, dressing mirror, walking stick, fountain pen and his presidential desk and first casket.

Some of the Ladies said prayers for the two departed souls before laying their individual wreaths at Fathia's tomb.

Madam Martha Sarah Mosisli, Lesotho's First Lady, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, congratulated Ghana for keeping its historical records in such a vivid manner.

"Going through this place, touches one to the core, making you have a feel of what our forefathers went through to attain independence and it makes you have a sense of pride being a true child of the African soil.

"To me, I could not have gone back to the Southern part of Africa without seeing some of the history that the great men such as Nrkrumah did for the whole of Africa. "The tomb takes you back to the history of the time and the need for us to continue the struggle to attain a united front for Africa," she said. She called on other African states to learn from Ghana and put their records right so that generations yet unborn would understand their history better. The Ladies, at the end of the visit signed the Visitors Book and made their own comments on the visit. Madam Fathia died on May 30 at the age of 72 and was buried in Ghana last month on her request.