Mr. President well done for initiating 'Year of Return' - Edmund Kyei writes

Years before independence slave trade was a canker in Ghana and some parts of the African continent, most Ghanaian were sold into slavery to Europe, Asia and America.

They were tortured and placed into dungeons of castles before transporting them by sea to their destination, the weaker ones dies due to crowdy nature of the slaves and the dead ones were being thrown overboard into the sea. So most blacks we see in America and Europe can trace their ancestoral root to Ghana and other parts of Africa.

After slave trade was abolished, most Ghanaian also travelled overseas to study and others also travelled to America or Europe to seek greener pastures and due to that there were inter marriages so most couldn't return to their place of origin (Ghana).

The Year of Return Ghana 2019 is an initiative of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's government that is intended to encourage African diasporans to come to Ghana to settle and invest in the continent.

The Year of Return was formally launched by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in September 2018 in Washington DC as a program for Africans in diaspora to unite with Africans.

This year 2019 is symbolic and will go down into history as we celebrate the Year of Return.

Many diasporans has touch down in the country since the launch of the Year of Return campaign, some have even started settling here and others are planing to return again.

Ghana has gained economically from this laudable initiative, our local market, the hospitality and tourism industry is booming because of this initiative and some have shown interest of establishing businesses here in Ghana, and we have been ranked 5th among 10 African markets to watch come 2020 by Bloomberg as far as investment is concerned.

The Ghana Tourism Authority under the auspices of the ministry of tourism, Arts and culture, Diaspora Affairs at the Office of the President, PANAFEST Foundation and the Adinkra Group of the U.S.A needs to be commended for this great initiative.

The Year of Return is one of the greatest achievements of our country and it is a plus for His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he has done marvelously well for initiating this memorable event for our country Ghana and Africa as a whole and it takes a visionary person like His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to make this materialize.

Edmund Kyei is Asokwa Constituency 1st Vice Chairman and Member of NPP National Communication team