Tourism potential in the name Kwame Nkrumah

It is amazing how decades ago, one man placed us so clearly on the global map that his name exudes nationality rather than an individual. I was shocked to learn how our proud nation is not as loud as that name even in some parts of Africa.

So I went to change some cedis to a dollar. The attendant looked me in the face and asked, is this a currency?

I exclaimed. really? This is Ghana cedis from Ghana. She said, where is that? I said West Africa and added, one of the best African nations in the world. She responded I see.

Then I remembered something. Guess what! Our Founder. I then asked, ever heard of the name Nkrumah; Kwame Nkrumah. With a proud feeling in my African donation, I exclaimed again, Kwame Nkrumah.

Come and see how excited this lady was having to meet someone who talks about Nkrumah as though he knows him personally. Even as I thought I read and knew a lot about that man, I can disgracefully say, she knows more than I thought.

She started a story of how she travelled to Ethiopia to watch just the huge erected statue. She has read almost every book about that man. Anytime she reads and remembers the lines in the book, she feels his life has been cut too short and it may be the reason for Africa's problem. She has been wishing to visit the home country of Kwame Nkrumah but is more inclined to the name Gold Coast.

I believed her and felt sad we have not taken advantage of that one name to make huge gains in our tourism sector. We complain about revenue shortfalls, and avenues to raise revenue yet are blinded by our myopic tendencies to dwell in the discussion of who founded Ghana and allow several billions to slip away with such national mediocrity.

There is great tourism potential in this country. People all over the world especially Geography and History Students with a touch of Pan Africanism interest would want to visit Ghana and have first-hand information about the man Nkrumah. Visit his home village, his cars, his sleeping place, his pet gate, office, and secret places around town and they will be willing to pay any dollar to see that and draw inspiration from it.

Here we sit complaining about the dollar rising against the cedi with common economic knowledge that we consume more than we produce and the only things available to consume are things that were imported and paid for with dollars. How did we get the dollar to pay for such items? The dollar leaves the shores and inures to the benefit of the exporting country.

Foreigners who visit the economy and spend their dollars paying for services in the country benefit the economy big time. We can do that by developing the image available to us who have attained international heights from self-sacrifice, dedication, love, and passion for their country and continent through practical works that the world admires themselves. We did not impose him on the world to accept; his works did. All we can do is leverage on that popularity to feed our consolidated resource pool and jump happily to develop the nation we cut him short of developing.

Here we are imposing people who were never close to the podium on the eve of independence to attract the equalization sentiment of patriotism when we know they fought against the 'independence now' mantra.

Yes, no one person fights for a course. A lot more people definitely support or have supported but may differ in ideology on the process, however, the end goal is the same. We can applaud them differently and let the generations know the impact they also made in the struggle but one person surely is at the forefront of the struggle and must be celebrated and touted beyond words but also to attract national income benefit especially if that figure transcends our national geography.

We must look beyond these bi-partisan jokes and create monuments of income that shower fresh oxygen of revenue on our national purse through one-figure tourism and dispel multiple Founders' sensationalism that confuses our tourist prospects all over the world.