Africa needs emancipation of mind not chain — Participants

Participants attending this year’s Emancipation Day celebration in Accra have said the emancipation that Africans need currently is not of the chains on their hands and feet, but that of the mind.

They said it was time for Africans and the Diasporans to re-educate themselves about what emancipation meant, the struggles and what their forebears and ancestors went through in order for the people to be free.

The celebration was organised by the Pan-African Historical and Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), with a call on Africans and people of African descent to promote and enhance unity, pan-Africanism and the development of the African continent.

The PANAFEST Emancipation day celebrates 25 years of Pan Africanist heroes who paved the way for freedom on the African continent.

The event honoured memories of these heroes with a perpetual lighting flame and wreath-laying ceremony to pay glowing tribute to the ancestors at the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre, George Padmore Library and the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.

The celebration was attended by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal; President of PANAFEST foundation, Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy, a representative from the office of the High Commissioner of Barbados, Director of Warner Music and Blavatnik Centre for Music, Howard University, Jasmine Young, among others.

It was on the theme: "Empowering the African Family to Confront Challenges of the 21st century”.

Shared history

The Chief Executive Officer of ONE Musicfest, Jason Carter advised those in the diaspora to resonate with the shared history of Africa and see the future potential of the continent in doing business.

“By establishing partnerships and investing in Ghana, we can create jobs, drive innovation, foster economic growth, both here and in Africa”, he stated.