Catherine Abelema Afeku
The Minister-designate for Tourism and Creative Arts, Catherine Abelema Afeku, has outlined mega plans to transform the tourism sector of the economy and make it a major foreign exchange earner for the country.
Speaking at the Appointments Committee yesterday where a large retinue of people from the tourism industry and the creative sector – including popular names like Agya Koo, Socrates Safo, Waakye and Nana Ampadu – the Minister-designate said she would embark on Marine Investment Drive to make the beaches and coastal towns very tidy to attract more tourists from abroad, involve the private sector to develop first-class and competitive hotels in tourism-rich areas and also vigorously pursue domestic tourism as a way of growing the industry in the country.
Ms Afeku said that a matching fund would be established to help promote domestic tourism, adding that civil and public servants as well as corporate groups would be encouraged to save some monies, say GH¢200 or above, and the ministry would then top whatever would accrue up from the matching fund to enable workers in the country travel to tourist attraction sites and by so doing, they would also become agents of promoting tourism in the country.
She said she would collaborate with the local media and organise trips to tourist sites so that they (media) would also use their platforms to promote tourism in the country.
According to her, arrangements are far advanced with Cable News Network (CNN) in the US to do a documentary on the tourism potential of the country so that that reputable international news network will sell Ghana internationally through the airing of such documentaries.
The Minister-designate also told the Appointments Committee that when given the nod, her office would immediately set up the Creative Arts Fund as stipulated in the manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to support actors, actresses and musicians to advance their talents.
She said by so doing, the creative arts industry would also grow and promote more creativity.
According to Madam Catherine Afeku, because the tourism industry is grossly underfunded, the setting up of these funds would help promote the tourism industry.
She told the committee that the Tourism Development Fund established in 2013 has so far yielded GH¢32 million with GH¢16 million of it invested by the past government while the remaining GH¢16 million has been securitised in some banks.
Ms Afeku also said she would engage the private sector in developing all the tourism sites by building receptive centres, eateries and accommodation for tourists who would be visiting those sites.
Another plan is that the ministry would invest heavily in maintaining the 18 Forts and Castles which have become major tourist attractions in the country, apart from the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles.
She also indicated that part of the Christianborg Castle in Accra would be secured for the creation of presidential museum where history and artifacts of past presidents would be preserved.
She maintained that a tourism office would be created at the airports where the unique attractions in the country would be sold to all visitors coming into the country.
The Majority Leader and Minister-designate for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, spent the shortest time at the vetting and was briefly interrogated by members of the committee on how to make parliament more effective in its oversight role.
He said the standing orders of parliament had undergone revision and would soon be implemented to give more powers to the legislature.
He noted that some aspects of the Constitution also ought to be amended to take some of the powers of the president and give them to the people’s representatives.
The Majority Leader said for instance, that it is not right to give full powers to the president to solely appoint chairman of the Electoral Commission and its members.
He indicated that if some powers are given to parliament to approve of such EC officials after their nomination by the president, it will erase the suspicion that the president appoints favourites or people with ‘party colours’ to fill those positions.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr