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Poet and spoken word artist Philip Boakye Dua Oyinka, known in the creative industry as Nana Asaase, is concerned about the kind of stories told to tourists at the various tourist sites in the country.
According to him, the presentations of some of the tour guides can be condescending, to say the least.
He revealed that he once went on a tour to Tetteh Quarshie’s cocoa farm, and the tour guide’s narration was offensive to the toils of the man who laboured for one of Ghana’s highest-earning exports.
Nana Asaase said that “the moment he started his narration, ‘Tetteh Quarshie smuggled cocoa to Ghana,’ I was like a young man holding it right there. I had to challenge him openly. I couldn’t hold it anymore. And all the gold they carried from here to whichever part of the world, they took it?” he questioned.
The poet believes that as much as narrations on historical pasts need to be factual, they must also project the image of the country and the individuals who laboured and toiled for the greater good of all.
Tetteh Quarshie, an agriculturalist, travelled to the island of Fernando Po now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea in 1870 and returned in 1876 to Ghana in order to introduce the cocoa crop.
Mr. Oyinka told host, Amelley Djosu on Joy Prime’s Celeb Biz Saturday, that he is also worried about the trade secrets, particularly around Ghana’s cocoa, being offered to foreigners on a silver platter.
The spoken word artist is of the view that the mystique of Ghana’s various tourist sites, produce, and vital cultural antiquities must be preserved.
The poet wants a multi-sectoral approach to streamlining the country’s copyright structure to fit into the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
This, when done, will help patent our heritage – things that identify us as Ghanaians – and be able to track their usage and the royalties that are due to the nation.
