Second Coming of Nkrumah, Africa’s Biggest Theatrical Venture Premiered

The most significant theatrical production in Africa, titled “The Second Coming of Nkrumah,” debuted at the Accra International Conference Centre on December 15, 2023.

The premiere was in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, UNESCO, and  by Fidelity Bank.

The play had a cast of 150 ace actors who exhibited their craft to the audience, who received special invitations to watch the play.

The play was put together by Ghanaian playwright Latif Abubakar.

The one-hour-forty-five-minute production, “The Second Coming of Nkrumah,” forms part of a bigger five-day African festival initiative that will draw audiences from all walks of life in the diaspora and Africa.

Speaking to the media after the premiere, Mr. Abubakar said the annual event was being supported by the UN Resident Coordinator, Charles Abani, UNESCO, with the biggest support coming from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and Fidelity Bank.

According to him, there will also be a celebration of African tourism and culture through exhibitions of miniature tourist sites across the continent, including the Nelson Mandela Capture Site and the Pyramid of Giza, among other popular sites.

He stated that the feedback from those who were at the premiere has been positive, and the public is set for an extraordinary experience when the play opens to them.

Explaining the rationale behind the play, he said, ‘We are trying to use threats, arts, and culture to support the campaign for African unity and the fact that Africa is not progressing well because of three things, and these were not things we just came up with. They are things that were well researched, and we came up with three core things: that Africans must be selfless, that Africans must try to work together, and that Africans must be self-reliant.
Those are the challenges facing Africa. We talk about corruption, but the bottom line of corruption is selfishness. And so if we instil the attitude of selflessness, unity, and self-reliance in us and our children, Africa will definitely move to a different level’.

“The entire African festival and the second coming of the Nkrumah project are to champion social and behavioural change towards the betterment of Africa, which means people should not depend on government.”

Nkrumah is the best leader we’ve had

The playwright admitted that Nkrumah is the best leader we’ve ever had, and he is not the only one with this opinion.

He referenced the BBC’s Africa’s Man of the Millennium, which the late Nkrumah won 40 years after his death.

To him, that was evidence that Nkrumah was indeed the best leader we’ve ever had in Ghana and across Africa.

The premiere was screened to audiences mainly made up of personalities from UNESCO, diplomats, chief executive officers of relevant institutions, and ministers of state, among other dignitaries.

The play, which comes under the African Festival Initiative, an annual event, begins with a street carnival before premiering.

The ace actors and actresses staging the performance include Fred Amugi, Akofa Adjeani, Jackie Ankrah, Adjetey Anang, aka “Pusher,” Shika Dzuali, Kingsley Yamoah, Pearl Darkey, and Omar Sheriff Captan, with others coming from Kenya, South Africa, and other countries.

The performers re-enacted the roles of some of the founding fathers of Africa.

They include Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah; Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie; Kenya’s first President and anti-colonial activist, Jomo Kenyatta; the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba; the first President of Guinea, Ahmed Sékou Touré; and Tanzanian anti-colonial activist and former President, Julius Nyerere.

Other Pan-African freedom fighters, such as the American Baptist Minister and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.; an American sociologist and Pan-African civil rights activist, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois; a leading Pan-Africanist journalist and author, George Padmore; and a Jamaican political activist, Marcus Garvey, among others, and what they each stood for, would be re-enacted in ten different shows.

Tour guides would assist patrons and explain the concept behind the many iconic structures and installations in the African setting at the AICC grounds, which would be decked and draped to depict African cultural heritage.

One of the structures at the centre would be the Afro Heritage Palace structure, where patrons could have a semblance of a Zulu palace, South Africa’s largest ethnic group, and the palace of the Maasai people, an ethnic group inhabiting Kenya.

The audience would also be educated on what the Ashanti palace in modern-day Ghana looks like.

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The story of each of the 55 African countries will be told in the “Den of History,” including the historical background of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the largest Egyptian pyramid, and the Nelson Mandela capture site.

A miniature desert with camels riding on it leading to the Giza pyramid will be created on the grounds.

There would also be a playground where children could have fun at the venue.

The “Second Coming of Nkrumah” and the festival will be open to the public from December 28, 29, and 30 at the same venue, 4 pm and 8 pm each day.

The African Festival is the biggest annual migration and gathering of Africans across the globe to celebrate heritage and culture and ignite the spirit of Pan-Africanism to champion the change that Africa needs.