Must-win battles for 2014 – Kakum is on my mind
It is that time of the year when decisions are made to part ways with inauspicious acts. With a reformist’s hat on, therefore, I could not help but draw up some New Year must-win battles for the motherland.
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I have looked at basic necessities such as water and electricity. I have pondered over the extent of depravity in communities, poor health facilities, filth and lawlessness everywhere, endless traffic congestion, and to my mind, these are all fixes that should make life better for every Ghanaian living in Ghana in the year 2014. With commitment, there are other countless fixes that should make Ghana a land of milk and honey.
From my list of must-win battles for 2014, therefore,my pick today is on tourism excellence. Within the sector, I have highlighted the Kakum National Park as a quick must win.
I am on tourism for two main reasons. First, if it pays for our President and the first family to take a Christmas holiday break in the United Arab Emirates, there must be something good there in terms of tourist attraction for our first family to go and unwind. So, can we also fix our tourism potentials to bring world presidents over for their holidays? I believe we can. Ghana is nowhere near a desert. We are a heaven on earth blessed with every natural resource and so it should not take much to get on the global tourism map.
The second reason why tourism is on my list of must wins is its potential for the economy. In rebranding their economies, countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Seychelles, Malaysia and Indonesia have used tourism as one of their pillars and today, they have become world tourism destinations.
Apart from that, the tourism chain is a source of employment and it opens up plenty of opportunities in that chain.
While agreeing that tourism needs to be tackled holistically, the Kakum National Park is one activity within our tourism sector which I would single out because of its shine as a world tourism asset. Yet, from what we hear, the eyes that matter seem to have been overlooking it lately.
Barely a fortnight ago, myjoyonline.com reported that the Kakum National Park was losing millions of Ghana cedis as a result of bad road network. For this same reason, we are told the site is now experiencing 30 per cent reduction in patronage.This sounds preposterous, for how could we allow this to happen to a flagship tourism centre?
It is difficult to understand why for a reason as bad road network, the ministries of Tourism and Roads and Highways would not be working together on a continuous basis in such cases of national interest.
This exposes the lack of strategic alignments within our ministries or government departments when it comes to pooling resources.
According to the story posted on myjoyonline.com, 60 per cent of the income that the Kakum National Park makes is paid to the government. So, there should not be a dispute as to who is responsible for fixing a problem when it occurs.
This is Africa’s first and only rainforest walkway and we can afford to take our eyes off as it comes to a standstill? No, there should be a way out.
How about a national strategy to commit a portion of the road tolls collected in any particular region to the maintenance of road networks leading to such strategic sites, for example?
The Ministry of Tourism should make a move to save the Kakum National Park which, no doubt, is a great asset to the country. I have been to the place countless times in the past with local and foreign guests.
I have also been there as a participant in a leadership workshop programme focusing on the endurance capabilities of a leader.
As part of the workshop, we walked through the terrains of the virgin forest, noting down our challenges and opportunities and then finished it off with a walk on the canopy walkway.
All occasions were refreshing experiences.
Now, to gather that the Kakum National Park, which was making money in the past and one of Africa’s natural tourist sites, is performing below expectation - owing to something that can be fixed - is unpardonable.
Before the road network reached this deplorable state, the Kakum National Park was said to have been hosting up to 180,000 visitors per year. It is one of the most visited tourism sites in Ghana.
It would be failure on our part to let it waste away, losing income to the state and employment opportunities to our citizens.Kakum is definitely a must win battle.
The road network problem must be solved quickly; same goes for some other facilities at the park.
Kakum could do with a modern restaurant and a couple of eateries and bars with decent washrooms and parking lot to bring the place up to world class standard.
Tourism excellence is one battle we must overcome this year. We can say yes to the promotion of Miss Ghana and the Mr Made in Ghana but we need to turn serious attention to world class tourism development.
Let us start with sprucing up and protecting what exists now. With passion we can win the battle.