All Set For PANAFEST And Emancipation Day Celebration

This year’s Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) and Emancipation Day celebration which seek to promote Ghana as the gateway to Africa will take place between July 26 and August 1.

The event being organised by Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in partnership with PANAFEST Foundation is on the theme, “Securing the African family: Our health, our wealth, our soul,” with the Emancipation theme, “Reclaiming our right to weave our own narrative.”

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, some of this year’s activities will be held virtually to prevent the spread of the virus.

For activities that would require in-person participation, the intake would not exceed a third of the total capacity of the venue.

Some of the activities lined up for the celebration include wreath-laying ceremonies in Accra to pay tribute to the ancestors, a Pan African Arts Market at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, and Creative Explosion, African World Artists at the National Theatre, which will offer Africans across the globe an opportunity to showcase their craft.

Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy, Chairperson, PANAFEST foundation, said Ghana was the home to Africans around the world, a place of hope hence PANAFEST to promote and project that idea.

According to her, PANAFEST was established because Africans were still going through a period where they had been oppressed, silenced and set against each other, hence the need to be self-confident to fight their battles.

Professor Sutherland-Addy said the reason for choosing the theme was because COVID-19 pandemic had made the previous year difficult and that people of African descent had contributed a lot in the fight, so the need for the story to be told.





“We are in a time of great insecurity, we have to live differently and Africans need to orient their works and own their contributions because we are the future,” she stated.

The Chief Executive Officer of GTA, Mr. Akwasi Agyemang, said the celebrations had immeasurable benefits for the country as they would help promote tourism and project the cultural identify of Ghana and Africa at large.

The CEO mentioned that this year’s event was to honour heroes like Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Edward Burghart Du Bois, Dr. George Padmore and other great ancestors who had built on the Pan-African ideals.

He, therefore, described the PANAFEST/Emancipation Day celebrations as the legacy project for Ghana’s claim to be the hub of Pan-Africanism.

He, however, called on the citizenry to show interest in the celebrations and support the various activities by participating through the online platforms.

Source:dailyguidenetwork.com