Kojo Oppong Nkrumah addressing participants
Minister of Information-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called for support from marketers across the country towards the attainment of President Akufo-Addo’s Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.
He made the call on Wednesday in Accra while delivering the keynote address at an evening lecture organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) under the theme: “Marketing: A Catalyst For Driving Ghana Beyond Aid.”
Topics discussed on day one of the two-day evening lecture were Marketing/Digital Marketing – a vital ingredient for driving Ghana Beyond Aid; Brand Equity Management – an indispensable factor for driving Ghana Beyond Aid, and Marketing Communications – a visibility drive for Ghana Beyond Aid.”
Commenting on the theme for the occasion, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah explained that “we are at the point in our nation’s history where we are called to rally behind this theme Ghana Beyond Aid.”
He told marketers in Ghana that “it’s an opportune time to focus your energies and figure out how we, in the marketing space, can play our catalyst role for this agenda to succeed.”
According to the minister, marketing would obviously play an equally critical, if not a larger role, in the attainment of the Ghana Beyond Aid’ vision.
He observed that marketers could help to change the mindsets of Ghanaians towards the President’s vision and as well awaken the spirit of patriotism in addition to creating positive image for brand Ghana Beyond Aid.
Akufo-Addo Challenges
Speaking on the essence of Ghana Beyond Aid, he indicated that “at independence, Dr. Kwame Nkruma, Ghana’s first president made a declaration about how the new Africa was ready to fight its own battles and prove to the world that after all the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.”
However, 60 years on, after experimenting with coups, parliamentary and presidential democracies and hybrid systems, the black man still get dictated to by Western Forces on which policy to pursue, where funds are available, what strings are attached to those funds and what he can or cannot achieve.
He said “it’s at this moment in history that President Akufo-Addo challenges us to rise to the call of our founding fathers to ride to the call of building a Ghana Beyond Aid.”
He underscored that the vision of President Akufo-Addo as far as Ghana Beyond Aid is concerned is to change the status quo.
According to him, achieving the agenda therefore would require the active support of various stakeholders.
He indicated that “marketing then helps us in engaging these various actors in shaping what roles each of them should preferably play in achieving this new vision or paradigm. This is evident in the work that the senior minister Hon Osafo-Marfo is currently engaged in. Which is the task of engaging all relevant stakeholders to make an input into the product – the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter. This Charter is due for Parliament shortly, and is expected to receive the backing of the legislature to assume national legitimacy and insulate it from partisanship so that we can all easily rally around, play our roles and execute.”
By Melvin Tarlue