It’s a long-running saga that has hit yet another stumbling block. The Museum of Science and Technology (MST) in Accra, Ghana, which remains unfinished although the project began in the mid-1960s, needs more money to complete its main science building.

Back in 2006 the museum’s chief curator Agyiri Sackey told the Ghanaian newspaper the Statesman that the government had provided Ghanaian Cedi2.5bn (US$81.5m, €60m, £48m) in funding to complete the museum. Close to a decade later, Oyortey has had to appeal for donations from potential partners as he launches a drive to finally finish the project. The GMMB’s board hopes that September’s Scientific Heritage and Acculturation Week — an offshoot of the government’s wider Science, Technology and Innovation policy — will help raise awareness and funding.

Another Cedi10m (US$3.3m, €2.4m, £1.9m) is needed to complete the museum said Dr Zagba Narh Oyortey, executive director of the Ghana Museums and Monument Board (GMMB) at a recent press conference in the West African country’s capital.

The story of the MST, conceived as a child-focused museum, started more than half a century ago when two University of Ghana lecturers proposed plans for an institution dedicated to science and technology. The MST opened its doors in 1965, but a number of challenges have prevented the museum ever properly getting up and running, including financial problems and squatters reportedly moving into the building. According to local sources, the entire MST project had been abandoned long ago, although now that stance appears to have changed.