Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey, has said that the redevelopment of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park is part of efforts to make tourism the number one contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“I think that we should thank President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his vision. He said that he wants to make tourism the number one contributor to GDP in Ghana. So, if we want to achieve that, then we have to get our assets right and the numbers right,” he added.
He said this in an interview with Bernard Avle on Point of View on Citi TV in Accra on Wednesday.
“2019 was a good year because of the Year of Return, but towards the end, we had issues because of COVID-19, so we went down, not just Ghana but throughout the world. But we are bouncing back. As of now, we have met our target for the first quarter, exceeded the second quarter, and we know that by the end of 2023, we will do far better than the previous years because our third and fourth quarters are our peak times in terms of December in Ghana and all of that.”
“And so, we know that we need to get some of these assets right, such as heritage sites and roads. We have fixed the Kakum National Park.”
Mr. Okraku-Mantey indicated that the agenda was to ensure that Ghanaians understood that, aside from cocoa and oil, tourism could be taken advantage of to drive the country forward.
“I would not be surprised if, in the next few months, Kwame Nkrumah Park takes over from Aburi Botanical Garden. You can see that 24 hours after its commissioning, there is a new energy, a new vibe. We were number one on Twitter trends yesterday,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo commissioned the redeveloped Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra on Tuesday.
According to the President, the redeveloped Memorial Park will attract some one million domestic and international tourists annually.
Speaking at the unveiling of the redeveloped memorial park, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said that the government will continue to invest in the tourism sector to help revive the economy.
Meanwhile, the family of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has thanked the government for the redevelopment of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.
The park’s facelift was done at a cost of $3.5 million by the government.
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park houses the remains of Ghana’s first President and his wife, Fathia Nkrumah.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Park, the daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Samia Nkrumah, said that the government, through President Akufo-Addo, consulted the family before the redevelopment.