"I'm not trying to be pre-emptive but Afua Asantewaa should be made a tourism ambassador asap. Her background in tourism, culture and arts, and this heroic feat, make her a perfect fit for such a role."

When I wrote the above post on my Facebook timeline on December 29, 2023 while Asantewaa had concluded her 5-day singing marathon for the Guinness World Records, I strongly believed that she had the potential to shore up the tourism fortunes of the country if she was given a role in that regard.

I had an inkling she would be named a Tourism Ambassador after her singing marathon attempt but I least expected the announcement to have been made during the after-party held at the Akwaaba Village on the evening of the day she ended the attempt (Friday December 29, 2023).

While conferring the appointment on her, one could visibly see the shock on Afua's face - basically telling the world she didn't know about the appointment.

Mr. Benjamin Anane Nsiah, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in charge of Administration at the Ghana Tourism Authority made the announcement.

"I am here as a representative of the Ghana Tourism Authority to appoint her, Auntie Afua, a tourism ambassador. That's one of the things she is going to do. The details, you're going to know. But you are going to be one of the people championing to the whole world that there is a country called Ghana, it's a lovely place to be, they have great people who are resilient, who are tenacious, who have drive, who have talent," he said.

After that they wrapped a Ghana Flag around her shoulders.

Afua’s 5-day singing marathon

Afua Asantewaa is an event organizer and media personality who set out to break Guinness World Records' longest singing marathon for an individual.

She endured a five-day singing marathon that commenced at midnight on Sunday, December 24, 2023, to surpass the 105 hours record set by an Indian artiste Sunil Waghmare in 2012. She ended at 7:00am on Friday, December 29, 2023.

At the time of ending her record attempt on Friday morning, she had sung for five days, six hours, and 55 minutes. She sang only Ghanaian songs.

She was allowed to rest 5 minutes after an hour performance or 20 minutes after four hours. She could also repeat a song after four hours.

Her event which was held during the Yuletide attracted a lot of people including visitors who had come into the country. Celebrities and public figures trooped in to show their support.

To say Asantewaa was the talk of town during the period is an understatement. Even other people living outside the country could not miss the spectacle as they stayed glued to their screens throughout the period.

To cap it all, an after-party organised by the Ghana Tourism Authority in collaboration with Joy Prime, was held at the Akwaaba Village in the evening. There were performances by Praye, Adina, Abiana, among others.

In the meantime, Afua would have to wait for the results from the Guinness World Records after submitting the entire work to them for assessment.

History of Tourism Ambassadors in Ghana

Afua Asantewaa’s appointment as a Tourism Ambassador would not be the first in Ghana’s history.

The Ghana Tourism Authority under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture appointed 30 Tourism Ambassadors at ceremony held at Tamale in the Northern Region on September 27, 2017.

These were people gleaned from several creative arts fields; they were musicians, actors, radio presenters, disc jockeys, writers, among others.

They included Agya Koo, Evangelist Diana Asamoah, Nana Kwame Ampadu, Okyeame Kwame, Praye, Sarkodie, D-Black, Fuse ODG, Fancy Gadam, Reggie N Bollie, Van Vicker, Bibi Bright, Dada KD, Daddy Lumba, Lucky Mensah, Kaakyire Kwame Appiah, and Cindy Thompson.

Others were arts and tourism writer, Wiyaala, tourism writer PaJohn Bentsifi Dadson, disc jockey Andy Dosty, Yvonne Nelson, Sena Dagadu, Sheria Gunu, Sam Okyere (black entertainer in South Korea), Abedi Pele, among others.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Tourism Authority; Akwasi Agyemang, these ambassadors were tasked to promote and market Ghana's tourism through several outlets, including social media.

Did their tourism ambassadorial appointments yield results?

Just a few of the ambassadors really worked. Apart from Okyeame Kwame who deliberately embarked on a 'Made in Ghana' agenda, with songs and other progressive activities; and Fuse ODG who held the TINA Festival, the rest were missing in action.

Dada KD, for example, had complained about lack of resources to advance his role as a tourism ambassador. According to him, he believed he was given the appointment because he had campaigned for the New Patriotic Party.

In 2021, Fuse ODG said in an interview on Hitz FM that even though there was support from the government, it was not enough to produce projects that would push the tourism industry.

"There is so much more to do. I feel like they could have supported the ambassadors more. I did the TINA festival and this is something we were planning to do anyway."

"I guess they could have offered more support. I’m not saying they did not do anything but it’s just that it’s not enough.”

Fuse ODG’s Bra Fie was used as the theme song for the Year of Return.

When Sarkodie was appointed Year of Return Ambassador

On October 30, 2019 Sarkodie was named Year of Return Ambassador at a meeting organised for the creative industry at the National Theatre.

This happened when Sarkodie in his BET Hip Hop Award (for Best International Flow) acceptance speech asked the world to visit Ghana for the Year of Return celebration which was held in December 2019.

“I want to say a big thank you to the almighty God, to my family. This one is for my little girl. This year is the Year of Return and I will urge each one of you here to take a trip back home. It's going down in Ghana so if you are coming to Africa, choose Ghana,” he said in his speech.

At the creative arts engagement, a portion of a citation read by the then Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng Gyasi says: "The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture celebrate your immense contribution to Ghanaian music excellence.”

The Minister later added: "we also recognise what Sarkodie did when he was receiving his award by speaking to our flagship programme the Year of Return and therefore we make him today an ambassador for the Year of Return.”

A ceremonial sash was the put around his neck to signify his appointment.

"On my way here, I had a lot of thoughts because our meeting here is about the creative arts which I happen to be part of. When I was sitting there everything that the honourable said, I was touched because these are things that we all want for the industry. And as you are making me the ambassador for the Year of Return, I want to say that for what I have heard today, I am giving my full support to your ministry to put out every information that you want the public to know,” Sarkodie said during the programme.

After that ceremony, Sarkodie did not embark on any drive for the project. Who do we blame? Obviously not Sarkodie. When you appoint people as ambassadors, you need to rightly define their roles and give them to tools to work with. There should be a plan to it. The appointment should not end at getting draped in sashes and Ghana Flags.

Afua Asantewaa’s ambassadorial appointment

Even though I have hope in Afua Asantewaa to deliver as a tourism ambassador, I also have my qualms with the Ghana Tourism Authority not making her role merely titular than operational.

The apparent shock in her face when the appointment was announced during the Singathon After-party speaks volumes; she had obviously not been informed.

Speaking to KMJ on Joy Prime on Wednesday, January 3, 2024, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyemang, highlighted the role Afua would be performing as a tourism ambassador.

“What we always tell the ambassadors is that we see something in you, we see value in you, so we want you to create value that we can support. Sometimes we would invite you to our events to grace the occasion, but those are peripheral. We want ambassadors who are going out there to say look, ‘I am doing this, this is my cause to promote tourism and then we follow,” he said.

He added that moving forward, they would expect more from people that they choose as ambassadors.

“I know Afua Asantewaa and her team are at Royal Senchi relaxing but once they come we will sit down with them. After all the noise, what do we do? The work has to be done, let’s leverage on it. Because she is an incredible person.

It should not be that six months later everybody has forgotten about her. We want her to be in the eye of the storm. And the storm is, by using her personality, popularity and charisma, we can attract people to domestic tourism. She’s very popular. If she is visiting all the tourist sites that we have in Ghana, I believe that our numbers will go up more,” he said.

What to do

From Akwasi Agyemang’s interview with KMJ, they really have a good plan for Asantewaa.

However, I think when they sit with the lady, they should also allow her to proffer some ideas, too.

As someone from an event background, organising an award scheme for women in Ghana and Africa, putting together a talent show for children, and with her background as a one-time first runner-up for Miss Tourism Ghana, her project would yield fruitful results if it is linked to women and children empowerment.

The Ghana Tourism Authority should therefore look beyond Afua merely travelling around tourist sites in this country to bringing up a novel idea which will promote women and/or children as it projects tourism at the same time.

Most people excel when they do things in their comfort zone. To me, this will make her ambassadorial role more effective.

I’m looking forward to an impactful ambassadorial role from Afua Asantewaa once the rules of engagement are laid down.

NB: The writer, Kwame Dadzie, is an entertainment journalist at The Multimedia Group and the host of Showbiz A-Z on Joy 99.7 FM.