First Oguaaman Congress ends

Cape Coast Nov. 27, GNA - The week-long Oguaaman Congress, which brought together Cape Coast citizens at home and abroad to deliberate on ways of raising the falling standard of education and creating jobs ended at Cape Coast on Sunday.

In a communiqu?, three committees on Education, Tourism and Investment charged the private sector to invest in hostels for students and teachers to help solve the accommodation problem in the municipality. It called for the "re-education" of tour guides to package Cape Coast as a true African tourist destination using small hotels, restaurants, guest houses and rest spots to make tourists feel at home.

The Municipal Assembly and the traditional authorities should ensure sanitation and health and rehabilitate roads in the municipality as part of a face-lift to encourage tourist to spend their time in Cape Coast, it said.

It called for the opening of a craft centre and the dredging of the Fosu lagoon for water sport and cruising as another of tourist attraction apart from the castles and forts to generate more income.

The communiqu? called for the establishment of industries using local raw materials to create jobs for the youth and to encourage them to "stay at home" and help with the development of the area. It called for development entrepreneurship training and urged NGOs to assist.

The Congress honoured 13 personalities and companies including, Mr Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General and the late Reverend Philip Quaicoe at a dinner dance in appreciation of their meritorious service to the municipality.

An amount of 22.8 million cedis was realised as seed money for the Oguaaman Trust Fund.