THE Upper East Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourist Board, Ms. Mary M. Agangmikre, has called on Ghanaians, especially the youth to use the Emancipation Day celebration to reflect and liberate themselves from the perception that nothing good comes from Ghana and Africa.

“The youth must desist from blind imitation of the foreign cultures such as the way they dress, the preference of foreign foods to our local dishes, the imitation of travel abroad” Ms. Agangmikre said.

She emphasized the need for the Ghanaian youth to at all times learn about the history of the country and be proud to be Ghanaians.

Ms. Agangmikre was speaking at a public lecture on the theme: Emancipation, Our Heritage, Our Strength at Bolgatanga as a prelude to the year’s Emancipation Day/Joseph Project.

The celebrations of the two events are aimed at consistently developing a unique sense of unity, co-operation and understanding among Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora.

It is also aimed at reaching out to our brothers and sisters who were forcibly uprooted from Africa and have been lost to their homeland for more than 200 years.

According the Ms. Agangmikre, the Joseph Project draws inspiration form the Bible where Joseph who was sold into slavery by his own brothers eventually proved to be the saviour for his family and people.

She indicated that this year’s Emancipation Day celebration will not only be observed in Assin Manso and Cape Coast as it used to be in the past but has been extended to cover all the northern parts of the country.

“The extension of the pilgrimage to the north is welcome news because the north was considered the factory where most of the Slaves were captured and sent to the south”, she said, adding that, “We have the landmarks and relics to show”.

She mentioned the Gwollu Defence Wall in the Upper West Region, the Pikworo Slave Camp, and Fiisa Shrine in the Upper East Region, the Nalerigu Defense Wall, the Sakpuli and Salaga Slave Markets all in the Northern Region as some of the historical relics that testify to the slave trade in the northern parts of the country.

“It is therefore right that if our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora are tracing their roots in Ghana, they must start from Northern Ghana because I believe most of them are from here”, Ms. Agangmikre said.

Ms Agangmikre who announced that as part of the Emancipation Day / Joseph Project celebration, a grand durbar will be held by the Chiefs and people of Paga on July 24, this year, appealed to the traditional rulers and elders to help in the discovery of more slaves routes in the Upper East Region to lend credence to the fact that slaves were captured all over the region.

A lecturer at the Navrongo Campus of the University for Development Studies, Rev. Fr. Augustine Abasi who defined emancipation as a process of action taken to free an individual from bondage emphasized the need for people to change their attitudes without which there cannot be freedom.

GRAPHIC SHOWBIZ            -           Thursday, July 5-11, 2007.       Page:  6