Plans are underway to establish the Museum of Healing and Reconciliation (MHR) at Navrongo, the Kasena-Nankana Municipal capital in the Upper East Region.

The non-profit, public-interest institution will document and interpret the histories of slavery, slave raiding, colonial violence, and community resistance in Northern Ghana and Southern Burkina Faso.

The proposed museum will focus on the experiences of inland communities whose histories of capture, displacement, and resistance during the era of the transatlantic slave trade have largely been overlooked.

Unlike coastal heritage sites such as the Elmina Castle in Ghana or the House of Slaves in Senegal, which largely tell the story from the point of embarkation, the MHR will focus on the communities where capture, resistance, and survival occurred long before enslaved people reached the coast.

The aim is to promote historical justice, healing, and reconciliation through research, education, exhibitions, and community dialogue.

The proposed site for the museum is Pungu Telenia, selected for its central location and accessibility to other raided communities such as Mirigu, Zecco, Sirigu, Manyoro, Paga, Sandema, Bongo, Bolgatanga, and Gwollu in the Upper West Region.

According to the project’s initiator, Emmanuel Agangzesum Awine, a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University in the USA, the museum is intended to serve both local communities and Africans in the diaspora.

He explained that many diaspora visitors to Ghana encounter the history of slavery mainly through the slave dungeons in southern Ghana, which reflect only one part of the story.

“For those seeking their roots, the museum offers a path back not just to a port of departure, but to the heartlands and communities their ancestors were forced to leave”, he said.

The MHR, Awine said, will offer an opportunity to reconnect with the specific inland communities from which many of our ancestors were taken. The rationale is to use this living museum to tell the story from the perspectives of the Victims.

“These raided communities have carried these stories quietly for generations, often under the weight of pain, silence, and stigma,” Awine noted, adding, “The museum provides a space where these histories can be acknowledged openly, allowing healing and recognition for both those who stayed and those whose ancestors were taken.”

 Through research, oral history, exhibitions, education, and community dialogue, the museum aims to promote historical justice, healing, and reconciliation, while contributing to global discussions on memory, reparations, and post-slavery societies.

The initiative has received strong endorsement from Prominent figures from Northern Ghana, including academics, lawyers, and traditional leaders, who have lauded its novelty and expressed support.

The Paramount Chief of Navrongo stated, “A museum of healing and reconciliation in Navrongo will have a strong cultural and developmental impact.”

Former MD of Absa Bank, Chief Alhassan Andani, spoke of the development potential it offers the North and has agreed to avail himself to the realisation of the project.

Prof. Avea Nsoh, an Associate Professor at the University of Education, Winneba, and former Upper East Regional Minister, described the museum as an important step in reframing reparations as an educational and ethical process that links scholarship, community memory, and global dialogue.

“The project would help place Northern Ghana more firmly within global heritage tourism and correct long-standing imbalances in whose histories are preserved and visited”, Prof Avea noted.

Professor Asaah Mahommed of the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, UTAS, lauded the initiative and welcomed the idea of partnering with the university.

The Chief of Sirigu, Naba Atogumdeya Akwara II, has also welcomed the project, describing it as “a matter of justice and healing”.

He emphasised the importance of teaching younger generations about the resistance of their ancestors to the slave trade and indicated his willingness to provide land for the museum.

Residents have also welcomed the initiative.

Joseph Weguri, a consultant and an educationist in Navrongo, said the museum would provide a platform for communities at the point of capture to reconnect with descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas and Europe.

He noted that “such recognition is essential for understanding the full history of slavery, including capture, resistance, and survival”.  

When completed, the Museum of Healing and Reconciliation will be the first major historical and educational facility of its kind in Northern Ghana, offering a space for memory, education, and dialogue around a difficult but often neglected chapter of the region’s history.

To mark the next phase, the project team will continue stakeholder engagement and prepare for a public forum and lecture in Accra around March 2026.

The event will introduce the museum concept, discuss its significance, and examine its potential role in education, heritage tourism, and inclusive development in Northern Ghana and beyond.