Sekondi, Aug. 6, GNA – Nana Kobina Nketsia V, the former Chair of the Ghana Museum and Monuments Board (GMMB), says the many Forts and Castles in the Western Region are a reflection of the region’s wealth.
He said the forts and castles formed an integral part of the History of the Region while the dungeons signify the wealth, which attracted the whites to the region.
“These are also in themselves symbols of oppression that must also be resisted now and forever.”
Nana Nketsia V, also the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, was speaking during the inauguration of the Fort Orange in Sekondi as the Temporal Regional office of the GMMB in the Western Region.
He noted that the nation’s heritage could only be preserved when such edifices were properly maintained with the requisite funding to the GMMB to collect more of these historical artefacts, information and craft to remind the younger generation of where Ghana had travelled from the pre-colonial era through to colonisation and independence and the need for sacrifice and selflessness to enhance the growth of the nation.
He described the Region as a “sleeping giant in tourism that must be revived.”
The Executive Director of the Board, Mr Ivor Agyeman Dua, stated that the Western Region was not only rich in political history but also architectural across the Atlantic, telling peculiar stories about the Region that must be guarded for the future.
He, therefore, called on Traditional authorities in the Region to submit artefacts for education.
The Executive Director said the Board was “rejuvenating interest through the re-opening of Ho, Ussher forts and stakeholders’ engagement to use some Ashanti traditional building as artefacts… there is a management plan to stabilize the sector.”
Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, advised the GMMB to begin looking at turning some of the castles into hotels to give Ghanaians a feel of how the whites lived in Ghana.
He said the government of Spain was helping the Region to improve upon its tourism.
The Regional Minister said estimates were submitted to the Centre for National Culture building in Fijai and plans were in place to renovate the dilapidated house of Kwame Nkrumah in Half Assin.
The Western Region is home to some of the nation’s richest culture, beautiful beaches and most importantly significant history.
The Region can boast of Fort Metal Cross, Akatekyi Crocodile Pond, Busua Beach, Nzulezu (architecture on water), Bia National Park and Cape Three Points.
In 2019, the Western Region placed second to Ashanti in tourist arrivals.
GNA