GRi Arts & Culture 29 - 07 - 2003

Africans should help make NEPAD a reality - Jake
PANAFEST 2003 begins with colourful durbar

Africans should help make NEPAD a reality - Jake

Cape Coast (Central Region) 29 July 2003 - The Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey on Monday, declared that African intellectuals owed it a duty to combine their efforts to support the political leadership to move the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), "from the bookshelves to reality".

He pointed out, that NEPAD, was an African initiative, and that African leaders, are resolved to accept responsibility for the continent's problems and take and its development into their own hands.

Obetsebi-Lamptey, made the call in a keynote address he delivered at the opening of the sixth Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival, (Panafest)/ Emancipation Day celebration, at a colourful durbar at the forecourt of the Cape Coast Castle.

The theme for the 10-day festival is: "The re-emergence of African civilization; uniting the African family" with a sub-theme "dialogue on traditional African system in 21st century globalisation". He stressed that this could be achieved through regional integration, not only in political and economic spheres, but also culturally and socially.

Panafest, he said, must therefore, be used to "foster Africa's cultural identity and integration, to break the cultural barriers that separate Africa's people".

"Our destiny lies in our own hands and we would succeed, if we combine our thoughts, efforts and energies as one people with a common destiny", he declared, adding that Panafest should be used as a vehicle to pull the African race together for development.

Obetsebi-Lamptey, observed that the Diaspora, probably have more to give by way of skills, which the African continent urgently needs, but pointed out that the home continent, "remains the fount to constantly recharge the values that distinguish us as Africans".

He said it is in this regard that it is important to have festivals such as Panafest to "remind us of where we are coming from and to celebrate the successes". The Minister, however, pointed out that he was not asking Africans to embark on a self-indulgent or self- delusion exercise, blaming others for the current problems on the continent, or to concentrate on celebrating successes of ancient African civilisation.

The chairman of the National Commission on Culture, Professor George Hagan, in his address, observed that a festival like Panafest, helps to invoke memories of the ancestors, re-affirm family values, examine and correct the errors of the past, and re-unites the people.

He said that the celebration of the festival should not only be to mourn "our unfortunate ancestors", but more importantly to help redeem the continent from bondage." The celebration should also be used as an opportunity to soberly reflect on the ills of the ignoble past and to resolve with fortitude and courage to resist any new attempt to subjugate and oppress the black race.

Dr. Leonard Jeffries, an African-American lecturer at the department of African Studies at the City College in New York, said Ghana "has a special responsibility to unite all Africans, especially those in the Diaspora, and declared: "It is her sacred mission to re-establish all Africans to their ancestral roots".
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PANAFEST 2003 begins with colourful durbar

Cape Coast (Central Region) 29 July 2003 - Ghanaian culture and tradition, were on Monday, displayed at their best, when paramount chiefs, queen mothers and other sub-chiefs in the Cape Coast and Edina traditional areas, were paraded through the streets of Cape Coast, for a colourful durbar at the forecourt of the Cape Coast castle, for the official opening of Panafest 2003.

All the chiefs and queen mothers, were clad in beautifully coloured kente cloths, and gold ornaments, with the exception of the paramount chief of Elmina, Nana Kodwo Condua VI, who was dressed in white cloth, and sporting a crown of leaves.

The procession, which saw the chiefs displayed their dancing prowess in their palanquins, amidst fontonfrom drumming, drew a crowd of curious residents, who claimed they were not aware of the occasion, to the durbar grounds.

The foreign participants, most of them Africans from the Diaspora, such as the United States, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as from sister countries like Nigeria and Benin, also turned out in their numbers for the occasion. Among the cultural troupes that entertained the gathering, alongside traditional drumming, were the Harambee dance troupe from the US, a group from Barbados and local groups like the 'Twerampong traditional and the Ashanti dance theatre, both of them based in Cape Coast.

The gathering, was particularly thrilled by the performances, of the Group from the US, which held them spell-bound with traditional dances similar to the dances of people in the northern part of the country, and cheered and applauded loudly.

Some residents the GNA spoke to, said the low patronage of the festival by local people, was because they had been sidelined in the planning of the festival, and urged the Panafest Foundation to correct that anomaly.
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