Ghana to participate in the largest black festival in Atlanta, USA

Accra, June 3, GNA - Ghana is to participate in next year's National Black Arts Festival (NBAF), one of the biggest annual premiere cultural festival held in Atlanta, United States.

Mr Jake Obestebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernization of the Capital City, who announced this on Thursday, said Ghana would use the occasion to make a presentation on the "Joseph Paradox", a national project aimed at using the country as a gateway to woo African-Americans in the Diaspora back to their roots.

The Minister said this when a delegation of Proffworld Link Consult Limited, local organizer of the NBAF, called on him in Accra to formally announce this year's event, which comes off from July 16 to July 25.

Mr Obestebi-Lamptey recounted work done so far by the Government in its effort to bring back and restore the links between Africans-Americans and their brothers and sisters on the Continent saying: "The year 2007 is designated to be a "Year of African Excellence" in commemoration of 200 years of the abolition of slavery and slave trade on the Continent".

One of the activities he said would be a "Healing Concert" where African musicians and other artists from the Diaspora would converge and participate in a variety of performances, adding, the occasion would be used as a form of atonement to reconnect the African-Americans to their homeland.

"The Ministry is not just keen in making the event great but also to ensure that we build a pilgrimage root for our brothers and sisters, who will come back to their homeland every time, every year," Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said.

He also mentioned the establishment of a "Garden of Remembrance" in Assin-Manso in the Central Region where prayers would be said every time African Americans visited the country and a "Wall of Return" on which the names of those, who would traced their roots back to Ghana would be inscribed.

Briefing the Minister on the festival, Mr Badi Murphy, Consultant to the NBAF, said as the largest African-American event, Ghana would represent the West Africa Sub-Region in this year's event in musical performances and exhibition of Ghanaian cultural heritage.

He said participants would be offered free space to showcase African monumental contributions to the world of culture.

Mr Hugh K. Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of Proffworld, said because of delays in securing the documents for participants in this year's event, only a few instead of initial agreed number of 80 would feature.

He said with the support of the Government, the Ministry of Tourism and the National Commission on Culture, the event would be able to bring together a lot of artistes and experts in tourism and the cultural sectors in the future.