Zimbabwe has renamed one of its key suburbs, Harare?s Union Avenue after Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana?s first President and BBC?s African personality of the millennium. The Harare Union Avenue was renamed after Nkrumah as a result of his great contribution towards African Unity (Pan-Africanism) and the liberation of other African countries.
An article in Zimbabwe?s leading Daily, The Herald indicated that the Ministry of Local Government in addition to honouring Nkrumah also honoured Zimbabwe?s late Vice-President, Joshua Nkoma.
Nkomo?s statue has been placed in Harare and Bulawayo. Bulawayo Airport, a road in Harare, and a mall in Bulawayo have all been named after Joshua Nkomo of Zimbabwe, the Minister for Local Government, Ignatiius Chombo told the Zibabwean press.
Another illustrious son of Africa, ex-President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma was also honoured with the naming of a street extension in Harare after him.
It would be recalled that Ghana?s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah provided training bases in Ghana for many African freedom fighters in Ghana including Robert Mugabe, the sitting President of Zimbabwe. Mugabe lived at the International Students Hostel in Accra at Airport for years and also taught as a teacher in Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana He also got married to a Ghanaian woman. The Zimbabwean High Commission in Ghana sees the honouring of Nkurmah in Zimbabwe as a way of strengthening fraternal ties between the two countries.
Its High Commissioner, Dr. Machivenyika Mapuranga also believes that the honour done Nkrumah was deserving of him since the impact and value of his contribution on the African continent cannot be overemphasized.
