Contesting Urban Space and Postcolonial Heritage in Accra

This paper engages with the contested memory of Kwame Nkrumah in contemporary Accra. Since the 1966 coup that overthrew Ghana’s first postcolonial head of state, successive governments—both authoritarian and democratic—have negated and rehabilitated various aspects of his memory. This contestation has taken material form in urban space through the construction, alteration, and ruination of statues. I approach the contested memory of Nkrumah in Accra by critically analysing the (re)development of Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a three-story traffic circle, public transportation hub, informal market, and memorial park. Since 2015, it has been the location of a bar notorious for trafficking minors, of a devastating fire and flood that killed nearly 200 people, and of a laser and lights exhibition dubbed ‘mini Dubai’. At present, the focal point of the circle is a towering statue of Kwame Nkrumah that is gradually falling into ruin, amidst long-delayed promises of refurbishment. I argue that the fate of Kwame Nkrumah Circle encapsulates the difficulty of remembering a complex, anticolonial leader in a neoliberal, postcolonial state.