Ghana has won global acclaim for the show of hospitality by its people. A first-time visitor to Ghana is welcomed with broad smiles by port workers, taxi drivers and hawkers on the streets.
The Brand Ghana Office has chosen the slogan: “Uniquely Welcoming”, in order to reinforce the point that it is not just enough to be hospitable but also to reassure all that this broad smile will be available in all our offices that provide services for visitors.
South Africa has used the concept of branding to deconstruct the apartheid era in order to give meaning to the new democratic rainbow coalition where there are equal opportunities for all, unlike the past when colour was a disadvantage.
The South African government used the services of Brand South Africa to mobilise support for the 2010 World Cup that went down in history as one of the most successful in recent times.
Discipline was high on the agenda of all communities in the past because the upbringing of every child was the responsibility of the entire society, to the extent that any elderly person could call a child to order.
Today, all those values have been sacrificed on the altar of technological advancement, to the extent that many of the principles that made us proudly Ghanaian no longer matter to some people.
Launching the first ever national identity summit a few years ago, the then Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Mr John Henry Martey Newman, had stated, “Our people’s active intellectual and emotional buy-in is critical to continually improve our image as a developing democracy.”
Unfortunately, since the first national identity summit, the Brand Ghana Office has been very silent, to the surprise of many stakeholders who welcomed the establishment of the organisation to help Ghanaians rediscover their identity.
We are happy, however, that after that long silence, the office is back in the news with the co-hosting of a forum in Accra yesterday to brainstorm on how to collaborate with all stakeholders to celebrate the positive things in the country.
The good news is that Ghana represents the best democracy in West Africa and perhaps the whole of Africa. However, the dividends of democracy are yet to inure to the benefit of the people.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, appeals for stakeholder support for the Brand Ghana Office in its efforts at promoting a new Ghanaian identity that will appeal to visitors and investors, as well as enhance our competitiveness on the global stage.
