Elizabeth Nyaniba with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
• Elizabeth Nyaniba was the mother of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
• The late Ghanaian president is known to have a deep affection for his mother
• She lived in an estate built by her son in Accra
If you have ever lived in the capital of Ghana, you would probably have come across a place called Nyaniba Estate, a settlement in Accra, Ghana.
Nyaniba Estate is an area located in Osu, a suburb of Accra, which is dominated by the elite in the country, who either inherited properties from their parents or moved to stay there.
During Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s era as president, he undertook a number of housing projects bearing similar architectural designs.
Nkrumah’s mother, Elizabeth Nyaniba occupied one of the estates built by her son in Osu.
Due to the fact that the president’s mother lived in the estate, people named the location Nyaniba Estate to best describe the place.
Elizabeth Nyaniba, the mother of Ghana’s first president, was a woman who lived for over a hundred years.
Despite losing her sight, madam Elizabeth had a clear voice and a sharp memory, according to the New York Times.
She was a farmer who lived in Nkroful with her son and her husband. Kwame Nkrumah is known to have a deep affection for his mother.
Mother-son relationship
According to historians, when Nkrumah was around two years old, his mother used to carry him to her farm which was across the Subile River.
On one occasion when she was carrying her son to cross the river to the other side, Nkrumah asked his mother to stop because she had stepped on a fish.
The mother managed to catch the fish and sent it to a fetish priest who instructed her to cook the fish and give it to only Nkrumah to eat because young Nkrumah would grow to become a great person in the then Gold Coast and Africa.
Several years after, Nkrumah fulfilled the prophecy but was later overthrown after being accused of squandering state funds in his bid to help other African countries attain independence.
Nkrumah was buried in Conakry, Guinea where he was in exile but his mother, it is reported, convinced former President Ignatius Kutu Acheampong to fly his body home to be buried at Nkroful in the Western region.