Panafest 2005 Cash Strapped

...Foundation decries delay of funds

WITH A FEW days to the celebration of the Pan African Historic Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) and Emancipation Day, government has not released the 200 million cedis it promised in support of the festival.

Government, through the Ministry of Tourism had jointly formed committees with the PANAFEST Foundation, to work out the modalities to ensure the smooth running of the international festival, which puts Ghana on a high pedestal on the international cultural scene.

The event is expected to take place from July 24th to August 1st this year.

The Executive Secretary of the Panafest Foundation, Rabbi Kohain Nathanyah Halevi disclosed this to The Chronicle in an interview at the weekend.

?We are anticipating that this year?s celebration will be one of the best and we are on the ground doing everything possible to ensure the success of the festival,? Kohain said.

According to the Executive Secretary, the foundation is encouraging the sponsorship communities as well as the government who are assisting it, to come out with the necessary financial support to ensure that Ghana hosts the event in a big style that the country could be proud of.

?Right now the ministry claims that it had integrated the Panafest and Emancipation Day on the tourism calendar, but we have not seen anything of the sort, ? he asserted.

Alarmed at the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) workers? threat to close the castles? gate at Cape Coast and Elmina during the celebration, he explained that he shared their sentiment with regard to the poor salaries and conditions of service, yet they should not embark on strike, otherwise it will affect and frustrate most of the foreign travelers who will take part in the programme.

He said part of their trips is to visit these edifices of castles and dungeons where their ancestors were enslaved. ?So if they deny our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora that emotional and spiritual fulfillment, it will not be fair,? Kohain emphasized, charging them not to politicize the event.

The African American, who has a Ghanaian wife therefore appealed to the government to see to the conditions of service of those working in the castle edifices, so as to avert any awkward scene that might mar the beauty of the festival.

He noted that neither the local people nor workers benefitted from the castles, a situation chiefs have repeatedly called on government to rectify. All the proceeds from the castles go back to state coffers. It does not specifically benefit Cape Coast or Elmina, an issue that needs urgent government attention, to expediently solve the problem by making sure district assemblies and traditional councils get what they deserve as the hosts and custodians of such edifices.

Kohain maintained that he sympathized with the workers who had used all channels available to them to voice out their grievances but to no avail, stressing that the workers therefore see the period for the event as a desperate means they could hang on to demand their rights.

?I understand their plight but I do not agree with their intention to close gates to the castles during the celebration. I therefore appeal to them to exercise patience and not to punish our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora,? Kohain pleaded.

Report says the workers had given July15 as the deadline for their intended action, if nothing was done to address their complaints. According to GMMB Director in charge of Central and Western Regions, Mr. Nicholas Ivor, a meeting was last Thursday convened by the Interim Executive Director of GMMB, Dr Prosper Dzamefe with the view to solving the problem, which he described as successful.