Elmina, July 14, GNA - The 200-member delegation from Trinidad and Tobago, planning to attend this year’s Pan-African-Historical-Theatre-Festival (PANAFEST) has drastically reduced to about 50 due to the “incredible increase” in the price of airfares.

Dr. Ben Abdallah, a member of the Panafest Foundation, who criticised the high prices on Wednesday at the launch of the Festival, in Elmina, said desperate efforts made by the Foundation to have the fares reduced had yielded no results.

The action of the airlines, he noted, could threaten the smooth celebration of the biennial event as it is likely to discourage prospective celebrants of the festival, slated for Friday, July 22, to Monday, August 1, also the Emancipation Day.

Participants are largely Africans in the Diaspora, across the continent and beyond.

Dr Abadallah said should the high fares remain it would affect the patronage of the 10th edition and 20th anniversary of the institution of Panafest, scheduled for 2012.

He said the stakeholders should evolve measures to get the airlines on board as partners because they are the sole beneficiaries of the event and recalled years back when Ghana Airways was part of the sponsors of the Festival.

A Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr. James Agyenim-Boateng, pledged the government’s continuous support to sustain both Panafest and Emancipation Day because they have the potential to sell Ghana abroad as a preferred tourism destination.

He said the founder of Panafest, the late Dr. Mrs. Efua Sutherland, had a vision to have the true story of Africa’s cultural heritage and the Slave Trade told to the whole world and expressed the hope that the dream would be achieved.

It was towards this direction that the government was determined to ensure its sustainability, he said, and appealed to the business community and institutions to sponsor and support its successful celebration.

The Elmina launch coincided with the official launch of the Panafest website, www.panafestghana.org. This year’s festival will be celebrated under the theme: “Re-uniting the African Family–Challenges and Prospects.”

He noted that effective corporate sponsorship would help sustain the Festival for it to reawaken the spirit of Africans in the Diaspora and to serve as a springboard to meet its objectives.

He invited Africans all over the world to be part of next year’s programme.

Mr. Ben Anane Nsiah of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) said Panafest was aimed at reconnecting the African family both home and abroad for their total development.

He stressed that nothing should be done to jeopardize the celebration of the Festival, which served as a unifying force for all Africans and their descendants to “heal their psyche and end their inner turmoil”.

He expressed the hope that participants would serve as agents of change and investments to champion the cause of the development of the continent as those at home and abroad would share their experiences and expertise during and after the Festival.

Rabbi Kohain Halevi, Executive Secretary of Panafest Foundation, said this year’s celebration would be a sober reflection of past celebrations as a prelude to next year’s.

He outlined the programme for the event, which includes an Akwaaba Dinner Dance, a wreath laying ceremony, a grand durbar of chiefs, official visit to Elmina Castle, a colloquium, theatre and drama arts, and a reverential night. The Emancipation Day would be observed at Assin Manso.

Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, Oguaamanhen, who presided, reiterated calls to the private sector to actively participate in the Festival to help achieve the significance of the event, aimed at inviting all people of African descents home for a reunion.