News — moving to ghana

Testimonies of African Americans Who returned to Africa & settled | YEAR OF RETURN
(via African Insider)

Ghana on Wednesday became the first country in the world to receive Covid-19 vaccines from Covax, an international co-operative program whose mission is to ensure that low and middle-income countries are not left behind in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines. The shipment, consisting of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, arrived Wednesday morning at the Kotoka International Airport in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

The vaccines, which are part of the first wave of vaccine deliveries headed to several low and middle-income countries, were produced by the Serum Institute of India, in the Indian city of Pune, a joint statement issued by UNICEF Ghana and WHO Ghana said.

“Today marks the historic moment for which we have been planning and working so hard,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “With the first shipment of doses, we can make good on the promise of the COVAX Facility to ensure people from less wealthy countries are not left behind in the race for life-saving vaccines.”

“The next phase in the fight against this disease can begin -– the ramping up of the largest immunization campaign in history,” said Fore. “Each step on this journey brings us further along the path to recovery for the billions of children and families affected around the world.”
Ghana, with a population of 30 million, has so far recorded 81,245 cases of the coronavirus and 584 deaths. The West African country is among 92 countries that have signed onto the Covax program. Covax is led by the United Nation’s World Health Organization; Gavi, a vaccine group; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI. Covax is funded by donations from governments, foundations and multilateral institutions. Its aim, according to a report by CNN, “is to buy coronavirus vaccines in bulk and send them to poorer nations that can’t compete with wealthy countries in securing contracts with the major drug companies.”
In February, Covax said it had secured almost 2.3 billion doses for distribution this year. Out of that figure, 1.8 billion is expected to be made available to 92 of the world’s poorest countries, the majority of which will be free. Countries that have signed to the program have to submit a detailed plan for handling and distributing the shot. Charles Adu Boahen, Ghana’s deputy finance minister, said Accra was first because the WHO had given the nod to its rollout plan. That rollout plan was led by former WHO deputy director-general Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah.
“[He] was in charge of vaccines for three years at the global health body and . . . was instrumental in putting together the rollout plan in a timely manner, allowing Ghana to be approved ahead of other African countries,” Boahen said, according to the Financial Times.
Ghana’s vaccination campaign will start March 2 and will be conducted in phases, beginning with health workers, adults of 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary, and their related staff, Ghana’s acting Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a statement.

“The government of Ghana remains resolute at ensuring the welfare of all Ghanaians and is making frantic efforts to acquire adequate vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multi-lateral agencies,” he said.

Internationally acclaimed author, anthropologist, researcher and historian Dr. Runoko Rashidi has decided to donate his archive of collections to the Pan African Heritage Museum in Ghana. Announcing this on his Facebook page on Monday, Dr. Rashidi noted “I have thousands and thousands of original photos from virtually every major Egyptian collection in the world and I am always looking for ways to share them.”

Dr. Rashidi, who is now admitted to the 13-member curatorial board and the 25-member Academic Council of the PAHW Museum, encouraged Pan Africanists and people of African descent to contribute to the PAHW’s historic museum project. “I am making plans to have my photo archives installed in the brand new Pan African Heritage World Museum in Ghana,” Dr. Rashidi said.

Dr. Rashidi will hold webinar series from January to March 2021 to show 1200 of his best original photos from museums of Europe and the USA, as well as the temples and monuments of the ancient Nile Valley. Dr. Rashidi’s work focuses on Global African Presence – that is, Africa outside of Africa before and after enslavement. The PAHW curatorial board member has worked with distinguished global scholars, including Ivan Van Sertima, John Henrik Clarke, Asa Hillard, Edward Scobie, John Jackson, Jan Carew and Yosef ben-Jochannan.

The Executive Chairman of PAHW, Honorable Kojo Yankah expressed great appreciation for the donation towards the Museum project. He said, “we are happy for this donation from Dr. Rashidi which will add up to the variety of collections in this unique museum complex at the Pomadze Hills in Ghana.”

“We are on our way to creating the biggest heritage museum in Africa, and we are looking forward to more of such donations from across the world,” he added.

The Pan African Heritage World Museum project has received endorsements from the African Union Commission (AU), Government of Ghana (GOG), Association of African Universities (AAU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), among others.

The Pan African Heritage World Museum is an international non-profit, non governmental organization which seeks to create an environment for people of African descent and all others to discover and experience the true history of the Origins of Humanity, the Development of Cultures and the Great Civilizations of the Nile Valley up to the Present that influenced the past, informs the present and will shape the future, serving as an inspiration for generations to come.

Work on the Museum is expected to be completed in December 2022 for commissioning in 2023.

The city of Cape Coast in Ghana’s Central Region is widely known as the nation’s tourism hub and the ‘Makah’ for African Americans. Every year, hundreds of Black people across the world visit the city and other historic slave sites to learn about the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The region was the hotbed of the slave trade that saw millions of Africans uprooted to the New World. The coastal region has a number of castles and dungeons that were used to keep enslaved men and women for days before they were transported to the Americas to work on various plantations. 

Since the end of slavery with Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) attaining nationhood, Cape Coast has seen the return of many African Americans and Caribbeans to have firsthand information about the inhumane treatment their ancestors endured.

In 2019, Ghana organized ‘the Year of Return’ to commemorate the landing of slaves from Africa in America. The event was highly patronized by members of the diaspora. Beyond the Year of Return, there has been an effort to consolidate the gains made.

In this regard, the city of Cape Coast has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Africa Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) and two local companies to create an ultramodern city. The city will be called the “Wakanda City of Return.” The proposed name of the city is inspired by the popular Hollywood movie, “Black Panther.”

The project seeks to leverage the heritage and cultural tourist assets in Ghana. The partners want to create a place of pilgrimage for the people of African descent to learn about their history, culture, the civilization of Africa, and its role in the creation of the new world economy.

The project, which is a private sector-led initiative, will develop the coastline and new areas in Cape Coast by creating a heritage experience with the provision of 5-Star hotels, retreat/ health resort, conference centers, and an ultra-modern continental corporate headquarters for ADDI.

The organizers say the timing of the project is apt since the country is still benefitting from the “Year of Return” and the “Beyond the Return” initiative organized by the government.

The project is expected to create about three thousand (3,000) jobs in Cape Coast.