By Samuel Kwasi Obeng.
Friday morning had been on my mind when I got wind of my name being part of the first batch of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MoTCCA) staff that would be traveling to Sunyani for the 2014 edition of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC). The confirmation came on Wednesday, a day after a friend whispered this good news into my ears.
Even though the Festival was opened to all and sundry, attending it in the name of MoTCCA, a state institution which is inches closer to the wielder of the ultimate power of the state, the presidency, gladdened my heart and put smiles on my face. I alsofelt honoured to be given the opportunity to sit in a durbar of eminent chiefs and people of our land and to be addressed by the president and my minister, Mrs. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare.
Fortunately for me, I saw the president at a close range, about a metre away from me and I took a photograph of him with my mobile phone. In fact this was my first time and it sunk very well into my consciousness that there is nothing enigmatic or mysterious about the president and the presidency.
As if I never knew? I quite did but my mind was still wandering and not sure. Is there anything special at the presidency that makes the president unique and different from the rest us? Article 57 clause (2) of our national constitution says he takes precedence over all. Then he must be special according to the letter of that constitutional provision, my mind still wandered.
However, I don?t know what happened to my mind but seeing him face to face with my naked eyes demystified my thoughts and put paid to my wandering mind about the president and the presidency.
I started packing for the journey on Thursday evening and it continued on Friday morning when I got up from bed at exactly 6:34am. Soon I was ready to set out to meet colleague staff at the forecourt of the MoTCCA. Only few people were present at the forecourt of MoTCCA when I arrived at 8:35am. As a result, we left Accra at exactly 10:10am instead of 9am because we had to wait for the rest.
The journey from Accra to Sunyani was quite stressful with a tinge of excitement as the balanced landscape of green forage and treesdotted with high rise mountains and human settlement from some parts of Eastern Region through to Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions which made a vista and communicated to my soul, mirrored in my smiles with excitement. Once again, in an unfamiliar environment aside the church, my soul got reconciled with my Creator, singing hymns of halleluiah with my heart to His name for His wondrous works. Onyame se ayeyi ampa!
The journey was quite stressful because it took us much a longer time to reach Sunyani than we had expected. The driver too was extremely careful perhaps because of the nearing yuletide. Motor accidents are very common during such seasons in Ghana.
We got to Sunyani around 7:45pm famished. Our superiors spent close to 45 minutes arranging accommodation for us to our displeasure.We thought since some of our superiors had proceeded us they will make all the necessary arrangements before we come. This wasn?t the story however and we were quite angry about that. May be there is a legitimate reason and we shouldn?t have been angry. If that is the case then our apologies because as they say ?a hungry man is an angry man?.
Greater number of us checked in at Ebenezer Hotel. Pulling no punches, I disagree with those who named this facility a hotel. It is more or less a motel or a guest house. Ebenezer Hotel, as it is so called has no operating food joint, not even drinkable water to buy. Thank God the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC) bus was around to help us take the 10 kilometres journey from the Hotel to town to buy food with much comfort.
The two initial rooms my colleague and I were assigned to had no light. They finally managed to get us room 30. It was a beautiful room with a well laid white-bedsheet with two pillows for the two beds which stood cheek by jowl on a tiled floor. The room had only two sockets, one in the main hall used to plug the TV and the only free one in the washroom, aaaaaah!!! What a poor engineering!!!
Managers of Ebenezer Hotel please up your game and develop your facility to befit the status of a hotel. Sunyani and other closeby towns in the Brong Ahafo Region are blessed with attractive tourist sites like the Kintampo Falls, River Tano Pool, Buoyem bat-caves et al. Thus people go there to visit these tourist sites and to transact business among others. Your facility, well developed to befit the status of a hotel inter alia will make Brong Ahafo Region a more welcoming home for strangers especially and you will make good money and name for your efforts. So please up your game!
At bed time, as I rested in the bosom of my bed and gave thanks to the Lord Almighty for His traveling mercies, my mind started wandering with smiles of how my next day was going to be; the climax of NAFAC. In the process I fell asleep. Around 4:30am on the Saturday morning, I was awake. Change of location and fatigue had not changed my Circadian Rhythm. As usual I blessed all my What Sapp contacts with Youth Outreach Network?s (YON) Today?s Devotion and took advantage of my high Cortisol level to do a little reflection.
Soon it was 7am. A call came through and I was informed to inform my colleague staff that the bus would leave our hotel at exactly 8:30am and not 9am. I informed them and quickened my pace as the thought of the bus leaving me started ringing in my mind. My immediate boss, Mr. Prince Boakye-Boateng came to welcome us and asked of how we were doing that morning. That was nice of him, the only boss I saw around our hotel.
Around 8:18am, the bus driver started honking the horn of the bus to alert us it?s almost time to leave. I got into the bus quite earlier than 8:30am and we waited for others. We left Ebenezer Hotel to the Jubilee Park, the venue for the climax of the Festival at 8:40am. The place was virtually empty when we got there even though according to the brochure, the Festival was supposed to start at 9am. The only few people present were some patrons, those in charge of the Public Address (PA) System, the police and some cultural groups arranging and testing their drums and other instruments.
The presidential dais was ready to host the president and other dignitaries; the seats were neatly arranged in rows standing on a crimson-coloured carpet. The yellow-painted rails supporting the red-painted hand-railssandwiching the staircase leading to the dais were beautifully designed with black-painted Adinkrah symbols. Behind the seats on the wall was the NAFAC banner with the President, John Dramani Mahama; Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mrs. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare; Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Mr. Julius Debrah and Dr. Henry Seidu Daanaa, Minister of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs pictures embossed on a white backdrop. Also on the banner were the theme – ?The Creative Arts Industry and Tourism: A Platform for National Development?and name and logo of sponsors among others.
We took our seat under a canopy. On my right, already seated and ready to delight us with Agbadza and Borbor dance and tunes was a cultural group from the Volta Region. Quickly a cultural group from the northern part of the country passed by in their war accoutrement. Other cultural groups started trooping in and gradually the atmosphere was warming up for the Festival. As I turned my head away from the northern traditional warriors, there I saw my Minister, dressed in a resplendent red African print and the Chief Director of MoTCCA having a chit chat. Some chiefs were already seated.
What caught my attention for five minutes was when I saw my Minister dancing Adowa with panachewith one of the cultural groups from the Akantribe tothe amusement and applause of almost all present. The other chiefs started pouring in in a rhythmic fashion; almost all of them rode in a palanquin followed closely by their elders and a clique of drummers rapping the traditional drums?atunpan, fontonfrom dawura, maracas etc. with smiles and enthusiasm.
These sounds quickened our spirits, not mine alone because I saw others smiling and moving their bodies to conform to the rhythmic atmosphere created by the drummers. In my excitement, a blow of disappointment hit me in the face like an upper-cut from Bukom Banku?s fist to Ayitey Power?s jaw, when I saw the ushers for the Festival; the first point of contact for anyone who wants to sit at the durbar dressed in a white top and a black or blue-back down, as if they were waiters and waitresses in an exotic hotel ushering people into a banquet.
My excitement dimmed because I thought they should be the first group of people to dress in the Ghanaian originated Kente cloth or any other African print to reflect the mood at the time. They looked odd among us. Thank God our eminent chiefs fully represented the Kente cloth in style. It was a delight watching them clad in their Ghanaian originated regalia from head to toe. It gave me the hope that we can wean ourselves completely from the consumption of foreign products.
The next to arrive at the Jubilee Park was the president. Beautifully dressed in black-and-white-strands of woven and sewn smock with a pair of black trousers to match, he exchanged pleasantries with the chiefs and there I had the opportunity to take him a photograph with my mobile phone. I was sitting just behind, at the far left of the chief representing the Greater Accra Region.
The president took his seat after the exchange of pleasantries and the MC of the day, in a traditionally clad all-white local fabric with a head gear who looked like a Ga Wulomei,started his work. The PA system was poorly positioned. Where I sat, we only heard echoes of voices, we couldn?t make meaning out of it; in fact we heard noises.
Various performances interspersed the speeches delivered by the President; Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and theYejihene. They were beautiful cultural performances but the performance that stood out was the one by a group from Greater Accra Region. This bevy of ladies was magnificent! Totally awesome!! The chorus of their dance moves was perfect and what held most of us spell-bound was the pot of flame they carried on their heads on a pad. We feared it will fall and cause burns on their bodies because of the energy with which they wiggled their waist and threw their limbs to conform to the dance. But after watching them for four minutes no one told me to di me fie asem.
Apart from the eccentric ushers and poor positioning of the PA systems, I think all including those who attended the climax of NAFAC on Saturday December 6, 2014 on their own sponsorship got their money?s worth. It?s a day I have engrained on of my mind.
I also think NAFAC and its preceding Regional Festival of Arts and Culture (REFAG) can be used as effective platforms to bring into fruition the aim of the president?s campaign for Ghanaian patronage of made-in-Ghana goods. Hence the appeal by the Yejihene, Pemampem Yaw Kagberese V for the establishment of a NAFAC fund is in the right direction for a vigorous campaign.
Mr. President!Patriotic Ghanaians are not proud of our Indian-made Flagstaff House, Chinese National theatre and Parliament. His Excellency! We are not proud our own plays second fiddle to foreign products even on our land. Your campaign, we support; establish the NAFAC fund and let?s use the REFAG and NAFAC platforms.
The writer is a National Service Person in the Public Relations Office in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts.
Source:
Samuel Kwasi Obeng.
[email protected]
