Bawumia’s security at Fetu Afahye poor – Kwesi Aning

Security Analyst, Dr. Kwesi Aning has described as bad the security of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia when he joined the people of Cape Coast over the weekend to celebrate the Fetu Afahye festival.

According to Dr Aning, who is the Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, the security detail of the second gentleman of the land left a lot to be desired.

“Saturday was a bad case and hopefully the Vice President can be better protected next time he goes to a public place,” Dr Aning told Starr Today’s Naa Dedei Tetteh.

Dr. Bawumia was in the Central Regional Capital on Saturday, September 1 to observe the Fetu Afhye festival which commenced on Monday, August 27 with a procession through the principal streets of Cape Coast from the Mfantsipim School junction to the Victoria Park.

Addressing the celebrants, Dr Bawumia challenged stakeholders in the tourism industry to do more to increase the contribution of the sector to national development.

Tourism is the main income earner for a number of countries, who are leveraging on natural resources such as beaches, wildlife, and naturally occurring landforms, as well as man-made attractions such as festivals and handicrafts. It is also a source of jobs, providing employment for a relatively large section of the population, particularly the youth.

However, despite an abundance of resources, the tourism sector’s contribution to Ghana’s Gross National Product has been relatively minimal, with direct and indirect contributions accounting for between three and seven per cent in 2016. In terms of employment, travel and tourism supported about 288,000 direct jobs and 405,000 indirect jobs in 2016.

Citing figures from other countries to support his call for greater action, Vice President Bawumia said although growth in the sector has been remarkable so far, there is a lot of room for major improvement.

“Tourism is the fourth highest income earner in this country. However, in terms of contribution to national output, Ghana ranks 101 in 2016 among a group of 185 countries. In terms of contribution to employment, Ghana ranked 49th. But Ghana ranked 113th (out of 185) in terms of our ability to attract tourism investment, compared to Kenya which ranked 73rd”, the Vice President disclosed.

“That means”, Dr Bawumia explained, “travel and tourism are not contributing to growth as much as we could. We are operating below our potential. In terms of contribution to GDP growth in 2017, Ghana ranked 67th compared to Kenya’s 46th and Senegal’s 14th on a global scale.

“The message is clear, there is more headroom to add to our travel and tourism industry, but we have to work harder if we are to create jobs, drive cultural exports, and generate local prosperity through our heritage values and environmental tourism.”