…eyes tourism as its best foot forward for rapid accelerated socio-economic transformation
GHANA, since 1988 initiated, embarked on and implemented sustained comprehensive national decentralisation and local governance policy and programme to promote accelerated, holistic and balanced, as well as active indigenous community involvement in national developmental process.
Progress
The national decentralisation governance policy has made steady progress in both quality and quantity over the years.
Players
As at the second (2nd) quarter of 2022, Ghana has 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and their corresponding Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCE) as front burners decentralisation and local governance stakeholders and players across the country’s sixteen (16) political administrative regions in the country.
DCE
Mrs. Janet Emefa Obro Adibo, the new District Chief Executive (DCE) of Guan District (GD), in an exclusive interview with the Business and Financial Times tourism desk in her office at Likpe-Mate, the District Capital (DC) yesterday. said Guan would harness its tourism potential like a wounded lioness as its best foot forward in its local economic development (LED) socio-economic transformation agendum to catch-up with the rest of the country as the youngest and deprived district in the country currently.
High confidence
The dynamic and development conscious DCE is barely two months old in office, assuming office in late July when she polled seventeen (17) yes votes from the twenty-one (21)-member assembly on July after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nominated her as DCE, to succeed Mr. Praises Marlon Anipah, the first DCE for Guan, who passed-on barely a week in office as DCE.
She disclosed that a demonstration of the seriousness the assembly attached to tourism as front burner socio-economic transformation catalyst, the assembly has commissioned feasibility studies into its tourism potential, and whose interim results are very positive and encouraging. The final outcome would be launched with a highly powered tourism development planning committee (TDPC) of identified strategic stakeholders and players in the district to lead its tourism and general socio-economic transformation agendum, the DCE emphasised to BFT tourism scouts.
Mrs. Obro Adibo observed tourism as a progressive, multi-purpose, modern universal cash-cow and multi-million dollar industry which has not been adequately harnessed in Ghana’s socio-economic reconstruction and transformation over the years.
Potential
She named rich and beautiful cultural heritage, ancestral and historic caves, lofty virgin and green forests, beautiful, flora and fauna, rare bird and wildlife species, highlands and mountains which are suitable for high-paragliding aviation and tourism sports, waterfalls, rice fields, cultural and heritage festivals, among others which the infant assembly intends to package and promote aggressively as baits to attract travel and leisure enthusiasts, investors, researchers, bird and conservation enthusiasts, among others.
Guan district
Guan District Assembly (GDA) in the Oti Region is the youngest among Ghana’s Two Hundred and Sixty-One (261), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) as it was created in 2019.
Mrs. Obro Adibo is therefore on record as the newest DCE for the newest assembly in the country.
DCE
The Guan District Assembly (GUA), being Ghana’s youngest assembly in Ghana’s decentralisation and local governance process and practice, has reposed high confidence in tourism and has accordingly resolved to use tourism as a front burner development and socio-economic transformation catalyst to catch up with older assemblies
Need to designate & develop Asuogyman as model destination
The unwritten winning tourism development evolution formula is strategic; and innovative packing (branding) and sustained promotion (marketing) of destination’s man-made, natural , cultural and heritage resources to targetted identified consumer markets using the right information, communication and education (IC&E) print (newspaper, magazines, billboards, handbills, radio, television, (TV) – traditional and social-media mixes to transform into traffic-pulling cash-cow destination and busy tourism hub.
The innovative and creative man-made artificial intelligence (AI) factors are very essential and important to destination’s transformation success story.
Asuogyaman enclave
The Asuogyaman enclave is dominated by Lake Volta – a natural resource, and covers the Asuogyaman District (AD), Kwahu Afram Plains (KAD), Upper Manya (UMD), Lower Manya (LMM), South Dayi (SD), Ho-West (H-WD), and North Tongu (NTD) assemblies in the Eastern and Volta Regions in the country.
Volta Lake
The Volta Lake and River (VL&R), a combination of man-made and natural resource which dominate the enclave, is an outstanding tourism cash-cow that has remained fallow, neglected and unharnessed over the years.
The general topography of the area is made up of mountains and low lands – including the Kwahu Plateau – are rare cash-cow tourism resources that, when strategically harnessed, can transform the enclave into a cash-cow tourism hub, as well as turn the enclave’s and Ghana’s general socio-economic fortunes around drastically.
The writer is a Tourism, Brands & Branding, Communication & Marketing Consultant, Practitioner, Analyst, Advocate & Activist.
