“The Black man is capable of managing his own affairs.” Those words by Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, became a defining statement of Ghana’s independence and African self-determination.

But nearly seven decades on, the state of a monument built in his honour raises a difficult question: is Nkrumah’s glory fading?

At the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, the fountain that once gave the interchange its sparkle has gone dry. The tiles are broken, the lights appear to be out, and debris has replaced the neat surroundings that once characterised the facility.

Dr Nkrumah’s statue still stands tall at the centre, but the fountain around it is now a shadow of its former self. When the interchange was inaugurated in 2016, the scene was markedly different.

Water flowed through the fountain’s channels, the blue-and-white tiles were pristine, and colourful lights brought the structure to life at night.

For Desmond, an administrator who visited the facility in its early years, the transformation is disappointing.

“I feel so bad. I think it’s something that we need to maintain to honour the memory of our first president, the founder of this country,” he said.

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