Kwame Nkrumah on Guinea’s five sylis
• Kwame Nkrumah had his image marked on Guinea’s local currency
• This was an honour by the former president Seim Toure for his fight for a great Africa
• Ghana’s first president would have turned 112 today
Did you know Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah was once embossed on the currency of Guinea?
Dr Kwame Nkrumah who fought for the independence of Ghana was a very close friend of Guinea President, Seim Toure to the extent that when he was overthrown in 1966, he went into exile in Guinea.
Nkrumah was received by Toure who made him honorary co-president of the country.
The Ghanaian liberator fought hard for countries to win their independence and his good friend, Seim Toure, chose to honour him even after his death.
Toure had the Bank of the Republic of Guinea emboss Dr Nkrumah’s iconic picture on the country’s five sylis.
The syli was the currency of Guinea between 1971 and 1985. The word syli means ‘elephant’.
Nkrumah’s face was placed not only on the five sylis banknotes but also on the five sylis coin.
Nkrumah never returned to Ghana until his death while in exile in Guinea.
He was first buried in Conakry-Guinea in May 1972 but former president Jerry John Rawlings in 1992 shipped Nkrumah’s body to Ghana where he was finally laid to rest at his hometown in Nkroful.
Below is a photo of Nkrumah’s photo on the Guinean:
