Ejisu Municipal Assembly sends SOS to GTB… For redevelopment of Yaa Asantewaa Museum

THE MUNICIPAL Co-ordinator for the Ejisu Juaben Municipality, Mr. Solomon Asiedu, has appealed to the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB), investors, organisations and financiers to assist the Assembly develop the Yaa Asantewaa Museum, which is currently in ruins.

The centre, which used to attract a lot of tourists to the historical town of Ejisu, was destroyed by fire some years back. As a result, the over 10 acres of land allocated to the   centre is lying fallow.

The occasion was the 6th Biennial Congress of the Senior Staff Association of the GTB at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region recently, under the theme: “Quality Human Resource, the means to accelerated Tourism Development.”

Mr. Asiedu believes the redevelopment of the Yaa Asantewaa Museum would create   jobs for the people, and help raise revenue for the Assembly.

He noted that tourism had the enormous potential of being the number one foreign   exchange earner, and a major tool for wealth creation, and stressed the need for    quality human resource for the tourism industry.

He said the personnel had a daunting task to ensure that tourism took its rightful position in the economy, and suggested teamwork and staff motivation to address the changing needs of the industry, hence the need to train periodically to add value to tourism products and service delivery.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ekow Sampson, President of the  Senior Staff Association of the GTB, has called for the reconstitution of the Board of Directors of the GTB, in accordance  with the Ghana Tourist Control Board Decree of 1973 (NRC224), as amended by the  Ghana Tourist Board Decree of 1977, (SMCD80), to oversee the effective operation of the Board.

He indicated that that a passionate appeal to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to reconstitute the GTB Board of Directors in September, was not heeded to.

Ekow Sampson said the GTB had operated without a Board of Directors for the past eight years, and stressed on the need for the setting up of a new Board, comprising competent, experienced, knowledgeable and dedicated people, who were not only ready to serve, but to modernise the operations of the Board to meet the numerous challenges.

According to him, the absence of the Board impacted negatively on some aspects of the operations of the GTB.