President Akufo-Addo has charged the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and its sector agencies to step-up their efforts aimed at growing the domestic tourism industry in the country.
A successful domestic tourism drive according to President Akufo-Addo, will make Ghanaians appreciate the country’s rich heritage and it will also help build national unity while stimulating economic growth.
Addressing the chiefs and elders of the Greater Accra Region, members of the diplomatic community and other attendees of the commissioning ceremony of the redeveloped Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park on Tuesday 4 July 2023, President Akufo-Addo said tourism is now a major economic activity that can create jobs for the youth and so its potential should not be taken for granted.
“I entreat the ministry of tourism, arts and culture and its agencies to step-up their domestic tourism drive. A successful domestic tourism drive will not only let Ghanaians appreciate our rich and diverse culture, it will also enhance national unity and stimulate the reined economy as local products are patronized,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“Tourism as an economic activity could spare economic growth and create jobs and prosperity for the people. It is for this reason that government has identified the pivotal role tourism in national development and has does placed tourism in the centre of national transformation. We will continue to invest in the sector to unlock it full potential” he added.
Leveraging tourism potential
Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, observed that countries such as Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa have tourists’ attractions such as wildlife, beached among others.
Ghana, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal said “has heritage and political tourism and that is what we want to leverage to make tourism and Ghana an attractive destination on the continent”.
“Very soon, the DuBois centre will be modernised, next year, the Osu Castle will be modernized and we are going to link all this, Kwame Nkrumah Park, Osu Castle, the National Museum and Padmore library with our forts and castles to position Ghana as a tourist attraction in Africa” Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal said.
“If we continue on [the path we have chosen], over the next three years, tourism will generate between 6 to 7 billion dollars per annum. Mr President, your government will go down in history as the government that has [undertaken the biggest investment] in the tourism industry” Mohammed Awal added.
Place of strength
Samia Nkrumah, daughter of the late first President of the Republic (Dr Kwame Nkrumah) registered the appreciation of the Nkrumah family to President Akufo-Addo and his administration for dreaming the project into reality.
She added that the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park currently generates the highest direct revenue from tourists and the redeveloped facility will help increase the revenue generated.
“The [Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park] is a place where we draw inspiration and strength to carry forward and accomplish the unaccomplished mission and promise of our independence” Samia Nkrumah.
KNM Park
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park (KNMP) is a national park in Ghana named after Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the First Prime Minister and President of modern Ghana. It was established on July 1, 1992, to honor, promote, and preserve the legacies of Dr. Nkrumah.
The KNMP is a public agency that is directly under the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture (MOTAC). The park used to be polo grounds for the British and other European nationals during the colonial days. On the eve of Ghana’s Independence in 1957, Dr. Nkrumah chose the same polo grounds as venues for the Independence declaration.
Presently, it is the third burial place of Dr. Nkrumah since his death on April 27, 1972, in Bucharest, Romania. He had early on been buried in Conakry, Guinea, and at Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana. The KNMP occupies an area of 5.4 acres.
It has a personal museum on Dr Nkrumah; an imposing mausoleum where his mortal remains and that of his beloved wife, Fathia, are interred. There is a bronze statue of about 10.8 ft. of Dr Nkrumah, erected on a pedestal at the spot he stood to declare Ghana’s independence.
Statues of horn blowers with a fountain surrounded by trees planted by some distinguished personalities on their visits to the park project the personality of Dr Nkrumah.
The redevelopment and modernization of the park, championed by the government of the New Patriotic Party under the distinguished leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has introduced an architectural picturesque reception center, which houses a host of offices, a modern library, an eatery, a gift shop, an infirmary and a conference facility, which are all digitally controlled.
The reception facility also has a display platform for the first official vehicle of Dr. Nkrumah. Other novelle introductions to the park include an audio-visually l synchronized fountain, which lights up the park at night with a colorful variety of lights.
A mini-Amphitheatre for lectures and performances for small groups, as well as a picnic area for the youth, has been added. Not only has the museum been expanded, but it has been aesthetically fitted with digital audio-visuals that chronicle the life of the first President of Ghana, among others.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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