'Residents Of Nkrumah�s Birthplace Must Make It Attractive To Tourists'

The people of Nkroful, birthplace of Ghana�s independence icon, Kwame Nkrumah have been tasked to make the necessary investments to make the area attractive to tourists. Deputy Tourism Minister, Dzifa Ablah Gomashie, says as immediate beneficiaries of any tourism activities in the area, the people there must take active interest in ensuring the home in particular and the village in general are made attractive enough for tourists. The home where Dr. Nkrumah, Ghana�s first president, was born and raised, is in a deplorable state. Joy News� Manasseh Azure Awuni, who visited the home, reports of a deserted house with rusty doors and windows. The house is managed by a Senior High School graduate who probably knows next nothing about the historical significance of the man who lived in that house a century ago. Asked what is being done by the tourism ministry to enhance the potential of Nkrumah�s home as a tourist destination, the deputy minister said, �we encourage the district assemblies, the municipal assemblies and the communities themselves to take interest in what they have as a resource�[because] they are the immediate beneficiaries and it is important that they own the facilities that they have; if you have a resource that can bring and generate income for your community, it behoves on you to put in as much energy as you can, to make sure you rake in the needed resources to develop it even further.� But many metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies are grappling with sanitation and their allocations of common fund are in arrears. Reminded that it would amount to overburdening the assemblies to expect them to develop tourists sites such as Nkrumah�s home, Mrs Gomashie said, �We can�t continue saying that the state should take charge of everything that is in this country.� �Teach me how to fish and don�t give me fish� is a philosophy the Deputy Minister said guides the ministry�s approach to developing tourist sites. She insisted that government has invested in the community and that whether or not the house as it currently is befits the status of the home where Nkrumah grew up and whether it is attractive enough for tourists, is a matter of opinion. �I can�t argue with you on that,� she said. �I will see a building and think that it is good as a receptive centre but you may see it as below standard,� she told Joy FM news anchor, Dzifa Bampoh. Mrs Gomashie said when she saw the building last year, �it was beautiful.� Asked if the tourism ministry is interested in lobbying the Minister of Roads to fix the dusty, pothole-filled road to Nkroful, she replied, �advice or suggestion well taken.�