Mayor Joseph M. Petty has bestowed the Keys to the City of Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States of America upon Ghana's beloved son and music legend KOJO ANTWI.
On Saturday, August 5, 2023, this presentation to the legendary African musician took place in front of a crowd that included The Maestro Kojo ANTWI's ecstatic fans, 3-time, 2-division world boxing champion Jose Antonio Rivera, Mr. Richard Kweku Boateng, CEO of Big Shoes Entertainment, and Nana Sompahene aka Mr. Maxwell Agyemfra.
The legendary figure in Ghanaian music, culture, and tourism thanked the City of Worcester for the honor and promised to keep using music to preach love, compassion, peace, and harmony while showcasing the stunning cultures of his own Ghana and Africa to the rest of the globe.
When Mayor Phillip French of New York offered "Freedom of the City" to Viscount Edward Cornbury, the governor of New York and New Jersey, in 1702, the practice of delivering keys to a city was established. For the safety of the populace, prominent medieval cities were walled and gated.
The locals would hold a lavish ceremony and give a key designed to symbolize trust and honor to a hero or dignitary visiting the area. The freedom of the receiver to enter and exit the city at pleasure, as a respected friend of city people, is symbolized by the key. The Key to the City, a renowned emblem of gratitude and civic acknowledgment in the modern era, is given to people whose commitment to the general welfare and public good reaches the pinnacle of achievement.