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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo called on Ghanaians and the African community to take advantage of the PAPAFEST / Emancipation Day and "Year of Return" celebrations to strengthen solidarity with the new world.
He said that events, which are a chronicle of the most barbaric episodes in the history of mankind, deserve to be commemorated, as they demonstrate the strength and resilience of African culture and the achievements of Africans, independently of the transatlantic slave trade and its consequences.
Speaking to a large number of chiefs and citizens of the Central Region who officially opened the PANAFEST / 2019 Emancipation Day celebrations in Cape Coast on Saturday, the President called on the African population to resolve to never again submit to such inhuman treatment.
This year's celebration is under the theme: "Unite the African Family" with the theme "Beyond 400 Years: Reaching Continents in the Future", sub-theme.
The event was a cultural show, a custom and the best of African tradition. The supreme leaders of the region were in beautifully designed palanquins and were adorned with sumptuous traditional costumes as they embarked on a royal procession from Abura to the New Cape Durbar Stadium. Coast sports stadium.
PANAFEST was launched in the mid-1980s as a cultural vehicle for domestic and foreign Africans to work together to overcome the obstacles to the growth of the continent and its people.
Similarly, the commemoration of the Day of Emancipation was introduced in Ghana in 1998 and celebrated on August 1 of each year to mark the abolition of slavery of movable property in the Caribbean and in the United States. -of the.
President Akufo Addo called on people of African descent to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to Pan-Africanism, adding that the celebrations were an ideal platform to remember the fate of all blacks.
Ms. Babara Oteng-Gyasi, Minister of Tourism, Creative Arts and Culture, said that the celebration of PANAFEST / Emancipation should be a clear call to all Africans and all peoples of African descent to Sincerely engage in the emancipation of the African continent since slavery. in the development of the continent.
She said PANAFEST has evolved over the years into a cultural event that promotes unity, pan-Africanism and development in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
Oteng-Gyasi said the celebrations offered Africans in the diaspora the opportunity to trace their roots back to their homeland by using Ghana as a gateway.
She said the government was committed to developing the tourism sector, adding that the ministry's determination to develop Ghana's rich and diverse tourism, arts and culture products was based on the fact that well-developed tourism potentials could to be the catalyst for a rapid transformation of the region. Ghanaian economy.
She called on all stakeholders, including MMDAs, traditional authorities, the media and the private sector to partner with the ministry and its allied agencies to support the PANAFEST celebrations / Emancipation Day. .
Ms. Oteng-Gyasi urged Africans in the diaspora to take the opportunity to explore business opportunities in the country.
Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy, Chair of the PANAFEST Foundation Board of Directors, emphasized the need to strengthen the ownership and participation of the communities served by the celebration.
She also called on the government and all stakeholders to continue to provide the necessary support for the PANAFEST / Emancipation Day celebration activities.
Dasebre Kwebu Ewusi VII, Omanhen of Abeadze Dominase and Vice President of the National House of Chiefs, called on Africans to look beyond and create fruitful synergies for more sustainable development of the continent.
He urged the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to take advantage of the Year of Return to transform Ghana's tourism wealth into economic gain.
Nana Amba Eyiaba I, queen mother of Efutu and Kontihenmaa of the traditional region of Oguaa, celebrated the symbolic rites of a new beginning in order to introduce the brothers and sisters of the diaspora in the Ghanaian community.
Source: GNA
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