Mr Speaker, we
would want to allow you to proceed, so the
Leadership would just contribute for two
minutes each.
Statements
First Deputy Minority Whip (Mr
Ahmed Ibrahim): Mr Speaker, thank you
for the opportunity to contribute to the
Statement.
Mr Speaker, even though I was just one
year old in 1973, I would join my Hon
Colleague, Hon Toffey, to wish our former
Hon Colleague well. But I would not be
able to say much about his character and
nature. However, as long as they were the
pacesetters who paved the path on which
we stand today as Hon Members of
Parliament, I would want to wish him well
and I say that may his soul rest in perfect
peace.
Mr Speaker, on the other Statement
about tourism, what must we do again as a
country to improve upon our tourism
potentials? God has endowed Ghana with
so many tourism potentials in our
mountains, valleys, seas, mineral
resources, human resources and many
others. We have gone a step further to
establish a dedicated fund for tourism
called the Tourism Development Levy.
After we established this Levy, what have
we been able to do with that dedicated
fund?
Mr Speaker, as a country, we are quick
to establish Funds including Road Fund,
GETFund, Tourism Fund, Infrastructural
Fund and yet, when we collect the moneys,
we place them in the Consolidated Fund
and forget about them. Mr Speaker, where
we are now, I believe that we may have to
let the Hon Minister for Tourism, Arts and
Culture enumerate to us so that we can
assess what we have achieved with the
Tourism Development Levy that was
established. If we say that tourism is the
fourth foreign exchange earner in this
country, then we must know where we are
doing well and where we are not.
Mr Speaker, religiously, people embark
on trips to Israel and the Western Wall yet
in Ghana, we have the Mystic Stone at
Larabanga which efforts have been made
from 1954 to relocate it but to no avail. Our
Muslim brothers go there always for
religious activities.
Mr Speaker, religiously, Muslims travel
from all over West Africa to Pru West for
the Mallam Maikano's Religious Festival which is a very large tourist attraction. So,
we have religious tourism, commercial
tourism, educational tourism and health
tourism. With regard to health tourism, in
the whole of West Africa, I do not know
which country can rub shoulders with
Ghana in terms of health infrastructure. If
we want to boast of our health
infrastructure, let us improve upon our
health facilities; concentrate on that and let
the Tourism Development Levy add up to
that. We may be perfect in one unique
thing.
Statements
In education, Liberians used to come
here. Even Mugabe from Zimbabwe came
here to attend university. Liberians would
come, Sierra Leoneans would come, and
Nigerians would come. What is it that we
can do to maintain this?
Mr Speaker, because of time, I may not
want to go into details. But as a country, we
should not just be quick in thinking that if
I travel outside the country to another
country, I can achieve educational
excellence. People came here and went
back and became the Presidents of their
countries. So let us develop our educational
sector and we will boost educational
tourism. Let us develop our health sector
and we shall boost health tourism. Let us
develop our markets in the whole West
Africa and we shall boost commercial
tourism. It is on that note that the previous
Administration under John Mahama
established the Kejetia Market with about
10,000 stores. It has no co-equal in the
West African sub-region. That is tourism.
Mr Speaker, in fact, we have people
who travel from Mauritania to Kejetia,
from Nigeria to Kejetia, from Sierra Leone
to Kejetia, and from Niger to Kejetia. That
is why we have Alabar in Kumasi. My
brother from Kumasi would tell you.
Mr Speaker, with all these things, we
have done well as a country and there is
still much to be done. In terms of tourism,
Ghana has a very good potential to improve
upon it and I believe that with the Tourism
Development Levy, we can go far.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the
opportunity.
Deputy Majority Leader (Mr
Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin):
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
I am going to make few comments on the
two Statements and limit myself to the
dictates of Order 72.
Mr Speaker, our Hon Colleague from
Jomoro delivered her Statement with deep
nostalgia and ended with these veritable
words which I shall proceed to quote:
“On that score, Mr Speaker, I would like to end my tribute to the late Hon
Mensah with an assurance to the good
people of Jomoro that although the
late Hon Mensah may have departed
his remarkable legacies live on and
shall be protected by those of us
who now walk in his illustrious
shoes”.
Mr Speaker, she could not have put it
better than this. Sometimes, we get onto the
seats and we forget about all the good
things that people have done. From
everything she said, I think I found this
most striking that she is willing and,
determined to walk in the remarkable
Statements
legacies this Hon gentleman left. Indeed,
his has joined the parliament above where
debates would continue. I think that all of
us as Members of Parliament must take a
cue and remember the good things that our
predecessors did and honour the
contributions of others who have had their
bites in the public political space. And
above all, we should also be mindful that
one day, the principle of six feet would
reduce us also to the same state. The Mason
would say,
“The ground level of all human greatness shall reduce us to the same
state.”
I would not bore you, Mr Speaker, since
we do not have time.
Then Mr Speaker, if we go to our friend
who delivered the Statement on tourism for
the first time, we are hearing of an Hon
Colleague telling us about the potential in
his area. Can all of us take turns to tell the
world? This is because when we meet here
at this plenary, it is not only us; the world
is watching us. Can we tell the world about
what we have in our various communities?
I agree with the Hon Member for
Odododiodoo when he commented to the
effect that these days, we seemed to have
forgotten about our own backyard and we
are exploring tourism elsewhere and
adding on to the foreign exchange of other
countries.
Mr Speaker, sometimes in our homes,
because of the little pump and ease, we
even forget to speak our Ghanaian
languages with our children. That in itself
is dangerous. Mr Speaker, I must confess
that recently, I had the occasion to
reprimand my own daughter and caution
her not to speak back in English else she
would not have the opportunity of going
where she wants to go. She would stay
here. It is sad.
So, Mr Speaker, we must market our
own country and having heard the Hon
Member for Sissala West talk about his
constituency, I would say that Effutu is
right here. Its capital is Winneba and that is
why when the opportunity came and with
your support, I carried ECOWAS to
Winneba. I wanted Members of the sub-
regional Parliament to know that it does not
only happen in Accra. So if you go to
Winneba today, you would first meet the
Reconciliation Roundabout, J. B. Danquah
and Kwame Nkrumah posthumously
reconciling with a hand shake. So that is
what we greet our visitors with.
Then you enter and meet the Unity
Square. From the Unity Square is the
Osimpam Heritage Centre. Then you turn
westward towards the Police College.
Down the coast, you see the beautiful
beach with the ocean smiling at you with
its melodic sounds greeting you. You
would also see the Koshiwa Village. We
Statements
are remembering the Ewe community that
settled there and did drag-net fishing and
by the way, they voted overwhelmingly for
me. We have done a nice fishermen's square, which you would meet there. Then
you go and meet the Ofarnyi Kwegya
square. These are all things that boosts the
tourism potential of the capital of the
constituency.
Mr Speaker, above all, apart from the
Winneba Youth Choir with their choral
music, we have the Winneba Masquerade
Festival, which we celebrate on the 1st of
January of every year. We started this in
1957 and we have been celebrating it.
These are things that I am sure many
people know about but today, I am letting
the world know that on the 1st of January
each year, they should not remain in their
homes. They should come to Winneba after
their 31st night prayers and there, they
would enjoy the Winneba Masquerade
Festival.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for your kind
opportunity and for granting me the
audience, and we thank Hon Members for
a well-rearched Statement, particularly by
the Hon Member for Sissala West. I would
want to read over the Statement again and
I would make meaning out of it for future
debate.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
