Use proceeds from castles to develop areas of location

Elmina (Cntral Region) - The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Nana Akomea on Saturday appealed to the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) to allow communities in which Castles are located to use the revenue generated from them for development projects.

He regretted that towns like Elmina, which are world centres of tourism, are still undeveloped and stressed that part of the monies earned from its tourist attractions like the castle, should be used to develop the "historic town to befit its status".

Nana Akomea made the call when he commissioned a 10,000-dollar museum, known as the "Elmina JAVA museum", at Elmina. The museum, which is a special edifice of the African Diaspora in memory of the Edward Abraham Ulzen, a citizen of Elmina is to promote his legacy of public service and philanthropy, primarily through support of health initiative in the Elmina area.

Edward Ulzen, who died in 1999 at the age of 73, played a central role in the establishment of KNUST, and was its first registrar. He later lectured at the universities of Zambia, Botswana and Lesotho.

He became the project coordinator for the Family Health broadcast programme of the Union of National and Television Organisations of Africa (URTNA). Proceeds from the museum, whose facilities include a research centre and a library, would be used to support the education of needy students in Elmina.

He commended the Ulzen family for establishing the museum in memory and honour of their relative, and said, "this is what Ghanaians should be seen to be doing instead of using their monies on expensive funerals all in the name of the dead".

The Deputy Minister, gave the assurance that his Ministry would give the museum the necessary support and expressed concern about the way children are said to be harassing tourists and the way people still win sand along the beaches in the township, and wondered if the people of Elmina were ready to tap its tourism potentials.

The occasion was also used to inaugurate an eight-member 'Edward Ulzen Memorial Foundation Board' to oversee the running of the museum, and to donate drugs worth 40,000 dollars to the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital.