The budget says the government will 'complete' the theatre Mahama promised. In August, Cabinet chose to finish stalled Ashanti projects first.
Kumasi is to get a new National Theatre, the 2027 Budget Statement says, but the government has not said what it will cost or when it will open.
The Statement, presented to Parliament on Thursday, November 12, calls the theatre "a cultural, performance, conference and creative-industry asset". It names no site and no seating capacity.
The pledge sits in the US$1 billion tourism, culture and creative arts plan of the government's New Economy programme. That plan wants Kumasi to grow into a second destination alongside Accra, "drawing on its rich cultural heritage to host business, cultural and other major events".
SSNIT is also to build a five-star hotel in Kumasi by 2030 under the same plan.
A promise first made in 2020
The theatre has been promised before. Campaigning in Kumasi in November 2024, John Mahama said the NDC first pledged it in its 2020 manifesto.
"In our 2020 manifesto, we promised to build Ghana's second national theatre in Kumasi. We have not reneged on our promise and we are repeating that if we come into power, we will build our second theatre in Kumasi," he said at the time.
The 2026 Budget took the first step a year later. "We will also commence site acquisition and design of a second national theatre in Kumasi," Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament in November 2025.
In January 2026, Kumasi Mayor Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi told a news conference the theatre would seat 1,500 people. He said the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, had released land for it.
Finish first, then build
In August, the Tourism Minister, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, said Cabinet had agreed to finish stalled cultural facilities in the Ashanti Region before starting a new theatre.
She told the Government Accountability Series on August 10 that she had toured the region's theatre and cultural centre spaces.
"I have suggested to cabinet that instead of starting a new one, we focus on finishing what has been started and cabinet is in approval of that suggestion," she said.
A new theatre could still follow "if the opportunity comes", she added.
One of those stalled projects is an open-air amphitheatre at Kumasi's Centre for National Culture. The previous government cut the sod for it in April 2023 and said the 1,000-capacity venue would be ready by July that year.
The 2027 Budget's wording, "complete a new National Theatre", does not make clear whether the government means a new building or the completion of one already started.
The Accra theatre
The National Theatre in Accra is in line for work too. The Budget Statement says diplomatic engagements this year secured support for feasibility studies and its renovation.
Mahama said in 2024 that the Accra building had never been rehabilitated since it was built with Chinese help. "The curtains cannot be drawn, the stage is in bad shape and so it is time for us to rehabilitate the building so it can help the creative industry," he said.
All the budget's other figures are in our 2027 Budget in numbers.
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