By Hafsa Obeng
Accra, July 25, GNA – The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has called on Africans to reject xenophobia and discrimination and promote unity across the continent.
The Authority said political borders should not undermine the shared identity and common heritage of Africans.
Speaking at the 2026 Emancipation Day commemoration at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, Mrs Maame Efua Houadjeto, Chief Executive Officer, GTA, urged Africans to embrace the ideals of Pan-Africanism.
“There can be no foreigner in Africa. The African who crosses a border in search of opportunity, education, refuge or a better future is not an outsider. He or she is our brother or sister,” she said.
Mrs Houadjeto said recent incidents of xenophobia in parts of Africa highlighted the need for greater solidarity among African states and peoples.
She said Emancipation Day provided an opportunity to reflect on the continent’s history and renew commitment to dignity, justice, identity and unity.
“We cannot gather to honour those whose chains were broken centuries ago while allowing new chains of fear, violence and exclusion to divide us,” she said.
Mrs Houadjeto said the Ghana Tourism Authority would continue to promote heritage sites and cultural initiatives that strengthened links between Africa and its diaspora.
“These initiatives are more than tourism programmes. They are bridges of reconciliation, platforms for healing and opportunities to strengthen cultural ties, encourage investment and reaffirm that Africa remains the ancestral home of people of African descent everywhere,” she said.
In remarks delivered on behalf of Juliette Babb-Riley, Barbados High Commissioner to Ghana, the envoy said Emancipation Day was an opportunity to honour those affected by the transatlantic slave trade and strengthen ties between Africa and its diaspora.
“Barbados sees Ghana as a neighbour, as friends and as brothers.” No person of African descent should be regarded as a foreigner on the continent.
The High Commissioner said Barbados and Ghana planned to formalise a twinning arrangement between Cape Coast and Speightstown later this year to promote heritage tourism, cultural exchange and closer people-to-people relations.
She expressed the hope that the Atlantic Ocean, once remembered as a route of suffering during the slave trade, would increasingly become “a bridge of partnership, opportunity and reconnection between Africa and the Caribbean.”
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Hafsa Obeng
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