When tourism, politics tie the knot

How all of us could swear — that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (himself) and the political tradition that brought him to power were all out to obliterate the memory and paint over the image of Dr Kwame Nkrumah!

Remember the hoo-haa over Founder’s versus Founders’

Remember Prof. Mike Oquaye digging in from the academic angle and a TV documentary that had taken a broadcast journalist to the UK for confirmation interviews.  

On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, all the seven years of suspicion and mistrust melted into the drains of history, never to be remembered again — or hopefully so; at least, such could be said for daughter of the late first President, Samia Nkrumah, who spoke words that were brief but straight from the heart. 

Ceremony

Speaking at a ceremony at which the redeveloped and modernised Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park was inaugurated, her oft-tremulous

 voice betrayed the pith of all that lay buried in her heart, namely gratitude to the government of Akufo-Addo.

On that day, finally, Ghanaians heard words about Kwame Nkrumah which they never thought could ever escape the lips of an NPP President, but here was Akufo Addo describing Nkrumah as “the man who led us to independence in 1957... the justly-celebrated Kwame Nkrumah... the outstanding pan-Africanist of his generation”.

On this July 4, 2023, I saw and heard laughter.

It was laughter coming from the daughter of the first President of Ghana and the daughter of the first President of the Fourth Republic, Zanetor Rawlings as they posed for the cameras with Akufo-Addo.

(The mausoleum was built by Rawlings in 1992) Tourism had taken politics to the altar and the people of Ghana blessed the marriage.

The Park now has facilities such as a presidential library, mini-amphitheatre, restaurant and a digitalised payment and access system.

The mausoleum has also been fully refurbished, with the tombstone upgraded, and the museum expanded with an audiovisual tunnel.

There is also an upgraded VVIP lounge, a modernised gift shop, and a fountain area with synchronised audiovisuals, the first of its kind in West Africa.

It had cost Ghana GH¢30 million, but even the World Bank Country Director, Pierre La Porte, acknowledged that it had been money well spent. 

Measures

Meanwhile, as part of measures to make Ghana the hub of tourism in West Africa, the Tourism Ministry is utilising a portion of the US$40 million World Bank grant to carry out feasibility studies, on the basis of which government will apply for more funds to do upgrades of the Shai Hills, Mole and Kakum Park, as well as two of Ghana’s big-dollar spinners, namely Cape Coast and Elmina slave dungeons.  

Why should the Bank consider Ghana for another grant? The track record of this government speaks for it

It is on the records of the Bank that this is the government that has, since 2018, got Diasporan Africans from North America and the Caribbean running into Ghana ever since Akufo-Addo stood at the Washington Press Centre in New York to declare the Year of Return, and rounded off its intentions with that unforgettable ceremonial night when 200 members of the African American-Caribbean Diasporan community in Ghana were accepted into citizenship.

Today, thanks to overall this masterplan, ‘Christmas in GH’ has become the unmissable Year of Return celebration.

The World Bank knows that Ghana’s investment in tourism marketing is paying off.

Whereas arrivals peaked in 2019 with 1,130,307 tourists, up from the 2018 figure of 956,372, Covid pandemic saw a drop to as low as 355,108 in 2020.

A no-holds-barred drive nearly doubled the figures in 2021 and the efforts were blessed with a leap to 914,892 tourists.

For a President of Ghana who had been torn by almighty COVID-19 from the pinnacle of an impressive 2017-2019 economic performance, a President who has not only had a fair share of the pangs and arrows of criticism for his handling of the Ghanaian economy but had also found himself on the wrong side of perception (as one out to get at Nkrumah), Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, July 4, stood vindicated.

It may as well be, because for tourism development in Africa, the chief promoter has always been a visionary President.

Kwame Nkrumah’s appetite for tourism dollars attracted visitors from Eastern Europe; Rawlings championed one of the biggest attractions, namely PANAFEST and Emancipation and Kufuor put Ghana on the mind of the world when he toured the country’s attractions in 2005 with a British journalist for the documentary titled ‘The Presidential Tour’ that was aired on Discovery Travel Channel.  

In 2020, I recommended that Akufo-Addo be made CIMG Marketing Personality of the Year.

Why? When, in December 2018, the President personally played host to the Boris Kudjoe-led star-studded galaxy whose tweets went viral globally and attracted hundreds of their kind to Ghana, the Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) of earned media generated from that blitz ran into US$3.5 million while the global media attention on Ghana via social media was valued at US$1.9 million.

In Rwanda, President Kegame decided on the “unthinkable” sponsorship deal in May 2008 with English Premier League side, Arsenal, which, for three years, saw ‘Visit Rwanda’ embroidered on the shirt sleeves of the club in all their matches.

It cost the country 30 million pounds sterling but according to Rwandan figures the campaign has been a success, lifting overall tourism numbers by eight per cent.

Back in Accra and to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park last July 4, I saw success story.

The commendations were well earned and I savoured the moment when sector Minister Mohammed Awal — the man who has mastered the art of extemporaneous delivery and is becoming known for projecting ambitious dreams, danced to the throb of atumpan drums by the National Dance Company.

Kudos to his super-efficient team, led by “COO”, Nana Sarfo Kantanka and including the “twins” from Ghana Tourism Authority and Ghana Tourism Development Company, Akwasi Agyeman and Kwadwo Odame Antwi (in 2017, after they had been in office for less than six months, I asked the tourism world to watch this deadly duo!) On July 4, many people were seeing a magnificent Park.

I was seeing six years of painstaking thoroughness in planning, whirlwind tours, drops of manna from the World Bank and a masterful execution. 

Surprise

Meanwhile, surprise-surprise! The Creative Arts School promised in the NPP Manifesto is 80 per cent complete.

The Creative Arts School which is currently 80 per cent complete

Growing side by side in Kumasi is the promised 1,000 seater amphitheatre.

Other regional amphitheatres, in Takoradi and Accra, along with it, are expected to be completed by end of year.

For the Kwame Nkrumah Park’s future, Awal and team are targeting a leap from 90,000 visitors annually to over one million.

I wish aggressive promotion alone could materialise this dream.

But, no; it takes more than a mere wish to keep attractions of this kind forever in the memory of visitors.

It takes a maintenance culture that has a zero tolerance for littering.

This centre cannot survive in a country where urinating around is a culture, and where washrooms are left unattended for hours.

The stench will drive away two-thirds of the million visitors.

The writer is the Executive Director,
Centre for Communication and Culture.
E-mail: ashonenimil@gmail.com