Nana Otuo Siriboe II
The Chief of Juaben and Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, has sent a note to the global tourism players, inviting them to visit Ghana and learn about cultural tourism.
He believes that, cultural tourism in the West African nation has not been properly investigated and exploited, stressing that once that sector is critically examined, a chunk of the resources of the global tourism investors will be channeled to that sector.
Addressing the 5th Mediterranean Blue Tourism Forum in St. Julian’s, Malta on Thursday, March 1, 2018, Nana Otuo Siriboe II said, it will be of great interest to the international business community to study the bondage that has existed among Ghanaians for so many years that even in the absence of strong governmental institutions, society is governed.
Once that is achieved, the world, he noted, would begin to appreciate each other’s culture.
“When you come to the typical Ghanaian setting (village), despite your standings in society, you have to pay obeyance to the Chiefs and Elders of the town for them to also brief you happenings in the community and what they want you to convey to the government. So, it is a two-way traffic. The foundation and bonding is so strong that naturally, stability comes to the people because you do not want to go back to the village and incur the wrath of the Chief and his elders”.
“What is happening in the world today is that we do not seem to appreciate each other’s way of life. And if you do not learn to appreciate that you are likely to denigrate one’s culture or way of life that anything which is not yours is not good but there is good in every culture. That is why I am inviting you to come to Ghana and learn a lot about cultural tourism; the way we live together; the way we relate to the elderly; and the way that even in the absence of strong governmental institutions, society runs and everyone is each other’s keeper”, he noted.
The basis of the sustainable peaceful environment of the Ghanaian society, he revealed, is the presence of strong traditional leaders who have, before the creation of the country’s judicial system, used alternative dispute resolution to adjudicate conflict that ensues among the people.
“You may see brick and mortar traditional buildings but the way and life our people live will make you appreciate the country in which you are in. In Ghana, in the evening, the males in the house will meet to share meals prepared by their wives. The children from different houses also come and eat together”.
“The village chief who answers to the divisional chief who also answers to the divisional chief who answers to the Paramount chief who in turn answers to the King are all pegged up in hierarchical order which makes it such that the institutions are able to regulate lives in the communities with this kind of governance structure. So, if there is an infraction, the people are brought together before the chiefs and their elders and there is an adjudication and the terms of settlement are such that the actors voluntarily abide by them and that gives good coherence”, Nana Otuo Siriboe II emphasized.
