.... and implications on Tourism in Ghana-Re-the hijacking of the President to watch a movie

The President of Ghana led a delegation to watch a documentary on Ghana in the USA. The visit among all travels has generated a lot of discussion. There is therefore a need for an analysis of the implications of the documentary on tourism in Ghana.

Tourism has received much attention in the economic development strategy of Ghana. The number of tourist arrivals and expenditure has steadily increased while investments in all the tourism sub-sectors have expanded. In the light of the above it is appropriate to examine what has been done in the past. In 1973, there was an assessment by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP,1973) of tourism planning and development and a review of human resource requirements for the tourism sector. This was followed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) assistance to identify the requirements for a comprehensive tourism development strategy. There was also a project by the United States International Executive Service Corps on the effective resource utilization for tourism development. These considerations resulted in the 15-Year Tourism Development Plan that was intended to guide tourism planning for the period 1975 to 1990 with financial and technical assistance from the Danish Government (Hoff and Overgaard Planning Consultants)

In 1993 and with assistance from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Tourism Organization a Ministry of Tourism for tourism development was formed and they time prepared a 15-Year Tourism Development Plan for the period 1996 to 2010. The Plan was to promote economic growth by generating foreign exchange. Tourism would also facilitate job creation, income and revenue distribution and a balanced regional development.

Three years ago, The J. Mack Robinson College of Business in collaboration with the Office of International Affairs at Georgia State University, was awarded a grant of $4.9 million to assist with the development and expansion of the tourism industry in Ghana. The project involved support in five key areas - marketing and product development, human resources development, institutional capacity development, policy and regulation enhancement, and the operation of a tourism management information system. It was supposed to have been completed last year.

Lets? ask ourselves, what are the characteristics of Tourism in Ghana is. It must be noted that the millions of Ghanaians resident overseas are the single largest category of arrivals. Second is the combined total of arrivals from the US and Europe, of which the African American community constitutes about 30,000 visits a year. What are the challenges for this current government to promote tourism? The first challenge is the human resource capacity needed to implement an ambitious national tourism development plan. The second challenge lies in the financing of the plan with respect to general infrastructure, tourism facilities, attractions, and later marketing. These problems require a visionary approach regarding the appropriate environments for the private sector and the government to attract investors.

To solve these problems comes in Allan Kyerematen, the Rosa Whittaker Group and the National Summit on Africa ( NSA) led by the most respected Leonard Robinson. The influential chair of the NSA served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, from 1983-85 where he was responsible for economic and commercial policy. And, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State from 1990-1993, he was responsible for U.S. policy toward Central and West Africa. The National Summit on Africa (NSA) is a non profit organization based in Washington DC. With a bright idea, and support and a donation from the American Honda Corporation, they enlist Forrest Sawyer to do a documentary to promote tourism in Ghana. So the stage is set now, Rosa Whittaker and Leonard Robinson sounds the idea to Allan Kyeremanten and the President. What a wonderful idea?

Forest Sawyer serves as an NBC News anchor and a contributor for both the broadcast network and the 24-hour cable news network, MSNBC. In addition to his assignments with NBC and MSNBC, Sawyer has an agreement with Discovery Channel to work on a series of high-profile projects. Sawyer?s relationship with the Discovery Channel began in June of 1999 when he hosted Twister Week, which featured live programs from Oklahoma educating viewers on the science of tornadoes. Mr. Sawyer reports for the acclaimed PBS documentary program Frontline and the Discovery Channel. Sawyer also filed an exclusive hour-long report on America?s controversial assignment of Apache helicopters in Kosovo, Inside Task Force Hawk and the Shark Week and from the Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. He has also covered conflicts involving United States troops from the Persian Gulf war. To promote tourism in Ghana, NSA engages Sawyer and Kaos Entertainment of Los Angeles is contracted to produce the documentary. Forest Sawyer is the link to the Discovery Channel.

To prepare documentary to showcase Ghana is a good idea, but the questions is whether Forest Sawyer was the best and most informed person to present a documentary on tourism in Ghana? Did the NSA ever review any previous studies or the master plans or tourism in Ghana? Judging from the background of the Hon Leonard Robinson and Forest Sawyer, are they the best people to do a documentary to promote tourism on Ghana? The answer is NO. For the past fifteen years tourism growth to Ghana from the USA, has taken a complete dimension, there are hundreds of Americans and especially African Americans who have been visiting Ghana, some using Ghana as their second home, others have adopted whole villages, building schools and generally contributing to the social economic development. Instead of taken a comprehensive view of what has been done before and improve, Alan Kyeremanten, the President just jump on the idea. To make matters worst, they lead a whole delegation to travel to USA to watch the documentary. The question is, without the Presidential involvement, will Rosa Whittaker, the National Summit of Africa and their group produce a documentary on Ghana. If they want to do a documentary on Ghana, that is fine, let them take their tax deductible donations from American Honda, to pay for their billable hours and do the documentary. If Kuffour does not know, Americans play politics of convenience and this money from American Honda pays for the National Summit Society on Africa, Forest Sawyer and Kaos Entertainment. As a President, there is no reason to sell oneself cheap in the name of promotion of Ghana. If Americans want to see a game or crocodiles, they will not travel to Ghana but go to the Sagrenti Park in East Africa and South Africa. Tourism is at stage whereby Ghana is competing with South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Egypt. We can?t compete with them in the Game and Wildlife, neither can we compete with the Egyptian Monuments, what we have is the hospitality of the people, the Slave Castle Monuments and the rich in-depth Africa Village traditions which others don?t have but requiring a comprehensive research documentation before marketing It's high time our leader?s brainstorm on any proposal before any action at the cost of the tax papers whiles the cities remain filthy as ever.

In conclusion one writer Gorge Agboo on the Ghana web states in his rebuttal stated that ?For your information, Allan was named by Time Magazine in 1994 as one of the 100 global leaders for the new millennium alongside Bill Gates and John F. Kennedy jnr and others. I have seen his resume before and that is what he refers to?

To use Bill Gates as comparison of Kyerematen's leadership is not only cheap but an opportunist moment by an educated fool from an uneducated school. Bill Gates is the chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, a software Engineer and a multi-billionaire. In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how IT can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. May be Allan Kyeremanten and the Whittaker Group should start reading the book before hijacking the President of Ghana.

For your information, I am a lady who has overcome the gender inequities in education. I live in Kumasi and have been freelancing and often shuttle between Ghana, London and the USA