Former presidents John Dramani Mahama and were conspicuously missing at the celebration event to mark 63 years of Ghana’s independence from British rule.
The event has been taken to the Ashanti Region capital of Kumasi for the first time.
In attendance is His Royal Mejesty, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Christopher Rowley is the Guest of Honour.
But the event did not have most of the members of the opposition in attendance.
Most of the Minority Members of Parliament were absent.
It is unclear whether the National Democratic Congress (NDC) deliberately boycotted the event.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is present.
The event is being marked on the theme: ‘Consolidating Our Gains’.
Brief History
Dressed in their traditional smock or batakari and hats, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah together with Kojo Botsio, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, Archie Casely Hayford and Krobo Edusei, stood emotionally at the Old Polo grounds, Accra, before a crowd of British subjects on March 5, 1957, the eve of Independence.
Then soon-to-be Ghanaians had travelled from the entire country to witness the memorable occasion. Nkrumah with tears in his eyes finally declared: “Ghana free forever”.
This implied that Ghana was absolutely free from British colonial rule. It made Ghana the second sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence in 1957; the first was Sudan in 1956. Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah later became the first Prime Minister of Ghana and subsequently, the first President of the Republic of Ghana.
