2013 PANAFEST is special – Tourism Minister

Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, Minister of Tourism, noted on Friday that the PANAFEST/Emancipation Day celebration has caught the attention of the African Union (AU), hence the placement of the event on the AU Calendar.

She said a high level meeting would be held to discuss the theme for this year’s celebration – “Re-uniting the African Family: Pan Africanism and the African Renaissance.”

In an interview with the Ghana news Agency, the Minister said the 2013 celebration was special because it coincided with the first anniversary of the late President John Evans Atta-Mills, the 50th Anniversary of the AU and the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States.

Mrs Ofosu-Agyare said the celebration has attracted participants from all over the world to deliberate on Pan-Africanism.

The PANAFEST/ Emancipation Day event officially starts with a durbar to be addressed by President John Dramani Mahama.

The participants will be treated to a symbolic boat ride from Cape Coast to Elmina.

Speaking on the theme,  Mrs Ofosu-Agyare said the Day celebration is a call to Africans all over the world to unite and appealed to Ghanaians to actively participate in the event, which seeks  to promote domestic tourism.

Other activities include a women’s day, which will offer the platform for participants to discuss the role of Women in the African Renaissance.

There will also be a candle light procession which takes place in Cape Coast from the Mfansipim Junction to Cape Coast Castle.

The procession will be used to pay tribute to the ancestors who died in the castle dungeons. It will end on mid-night with the Minister making the Emancipation proclamation.

Source: GNA