The Taste of Afrika, organizers of the Cultural Oneness festival have announced that this year’s event will come off in November instead of the December date it was held in 2023 due to the impending general election on December 7. Consequently, the festival would take place from November 13 to 16, 2024, in the northern region on the theme: “Leveraging on our strength for shared growth and prosperity as one people.”
The primary objective of the festival is to foster unity among the traditional kingdoms and ethnic groups in the northern sector of Ghana as well as promote community development.
Mr. Tengol K. Kplemani, a Co-Founder of Taste of Afrika on the sidelines of a media interaction held in Tamale last Wednesday, explained that the Cultural Oneness festival is basically to champion cultural diversity and unity among the African people on the continent and outside the continent.
He announced that the four day activities will include a Cultural Roots tour across the five regions of the north, Cultural Fusion durbar, Street Carnival, Exhibition, and Business Forum to empower the youth in entrepreneurship as well as a Fashion Show and a musical concert to climax the event.
Mr. Kplemani has therefore implored the people especially the teeming youth to turnout in their numbers during the period to network, unite and build a resilient community for transformation.
He stated that the durbar of chiefs from the various traditional kingdoms promoted unity and cultural cohesion among the people.
He added the multi-stakeholder dialogue opened investment opportunities and approaches to promote sub-national economic development to address the youth unemployment rate and improve livelihoods.
The initiative promotes the UN Sustainable Development Goals 10 and 11, which advocates for reduced inequalities and sustainable cities and communities respectively by 2030.
For his part, the Suŋ Naa of Tolon traditional area and Chairman and Co-Founder of Taste of Afrika, Chief Martin Christopher Glin, during the media interaction highlighted the importance of the private sector participation in advancing development in every society.
He also advocated a change of the mindset of the people, stating that a lot of the problems that exist in northern Ghana are similar to what exist in the black community in America.
“There’s no one that is going to help us and like I say to people in America and our brothers and sisters here, don’t look up to the government; you have to look within yourself, you have to develop within yourself. You have to create wealth with the resources that you have,” he advised.
The entrepreneurial coach and investor added, “There is a lot of money that black people have in the United States (point blank, there is a lot of wealth in the United States), a middle income person is considered very rich here. Now, how do we get black people in America to want to invest in Northern Ghana, we have to show them the opportunities here”.
Meanwhile, some patrons who participated in the maiden event last year in an interaction with THE CUSTODIAN said the initiative offered an opportunity for them to network and learn new ideas.
