Recently, I saw a review of tourists’ visit to Fort Batenstein, Butre. It disturbed me, so I decided to send it to the Ghana Tourism Authority…here is the correspondence:

1. chris scott wrote:

“Hi Kojo,

One of the latest reviews in Briggs’ Bradt Update to Ghana.

Work for your regional manager and staff in Takoradi.

Cheers,

Chris”

2. Here is the reply from my contact at the Ghana Tourism Authority:

Hello, sorry for the delay but have forwarded it to directorate for action to be taken quickly on it…cheers and Thanks for prompting us.

Now for the specifics: Watch this youtube before reading the Bradt Update review…..

Now for the review:

Batenstein Fort
Quite a negative experience for us visiting batenstein fort in Butre. We have been coming and going to butre a couple of times because we came back for hideout lodge when first staying there, having a good experience and coming back to it after green turtle lodge and we saw when we arrived and left from the trotro spot, a small simple wooden shed, which read “tourist office”. Now before we went to batenstein we saw this office at least four times, none of the times it being occupied.

We went to search for the path up the hill to the fort and from the bridge to hideout we took a right (afterwards we saw we should have taken a left). We walked through forest on a little footpath, came across a watering hole and some people who would only show us the way “for something” so we just said hi and moved along. Finally we found what we thought was the path and through a very interesting climb we reached the fort. We enjoyed some nice views and we saw from there a path had been made that went directly into the village. So when we were done seeing the fort we went back down along the path. When we came back down into the village however we were in for a rude surprise.

A man came up to us saying we were to pay for visiting the fort and that we had to follow him to the tourist office (which was until then unoccupied on all occasions). We were asked to pay 10 cedi for seeing it even though it is nowhere even hinted at, a fee has to be paid when visiting the fort (not in the village itself, not on your way to the fort, not at the fort itself, no sign whatsoever). The tourist office, was suddenly occupied by 3 other men and a book was given to us for registration purposes (interesting detail, the oldest registration was only just after the italians renovated the fort and built a path to it in 2010). We put down our details and in the column for amount paid we put 10 cedis and gave him the money. We then asked for a receipt to know the money would go to the village, to a guide (we did not have) and keeping up the fort but he gave us some bogus excuse not to give the receipt. Disillusioned we went back to hideout afterwards and were very disappointed this had happened. So please, if you are going to visit the fort, be warned you will have to pay for it, and it would be best you go to the tourist office first so you can at least get a guide with you (although I must say it seemed to me the money we paid would not be going to the village, or the guide, or the fort, but the man would just take it himself. He even said when he met us going down from the fort he “wouldn’t be here if people would not have to pay”.)

So if you got this far and you’ve been to Butre-Fort Batenstein, let us know if there has been an improvement.

Again, the point of this post is to encourage the Ghana Tourism Authority Head Office and the 10 Regional Offices to keep accessing THE BRADT GUIDE TO GHANA UPDATE so that interventions can be made, be they at attractions such as the example above, or at restaurants and hotels.

Festus is also the author of the continuation of Mahama-Zuma conversation…see the comments for the last post (scroll down).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT-PERSPECTIVE FROM FESTUS TUMI, PUBLISHER OF DESTINATION GHANA

Destination Ghana’s mission is to help develop and promote Ghana as a tourism “destination”.
The idea came to me after working as a hotel manager for some major chains in Aruba, in the Dutch Caribbean from 1998 to 2006.
What struck me was the fact that this particular island – only 19 miles long by 6 miles wide – produced, well almost absolutely nothing! It hasn’t any history of note, and imports EVERYTHING. I mean COWS are considered exotic animals there. Add a near desert climate, no arable land, no forest, no rivers, no natural resources, it is no surprise that the Spanish conquistadors called the place “Ouraba” meaning useless. But in spite of these minor setbacks Aruba has one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean generated through, you’ve guessed it, tourism. The island receives over 1.2 million (verified – none of this Ghana style, pluck figures out of the air stuff) visitors each year, with each visitor staying on average 7 nights and spending over USD$1000!
What is the attraction? SUN, SEA, SAND!
So this got me thinking. Ghana has ALL THREE of the above. A coastline almost 250 miles long with outstanding beaches at Ada, Prampram, Princes Town, Axim, Akwidaa, Busua, Beyin and more. Throw in a rich Asante history amplified because of the British-Ashanti wars, some decent wildlife, rainforests, waterfalls, historical monuments etc we exceed Aruba’s attractions.
I digress, but then I don’t.
I came to Ghana, knowing that if we could focus on developing Ghana as a destination, then hotels and ancillary industries would all benefit. Destination Ghana magazine was created with this in mind. I spent close to 3 years just gathering information, visiting attractions and hoteliers, taking photos, and meeting officials. I was self funded, with some income from advertisers once the publications had come out.
I am fortunate to have travelled to many countries. I have visited as a tourist most of Europe, US, most of the Caribbean islands, Venezuela, China, India, Egypt and most recently Gambia all on my own money – no per diem for me! And I believe I can honestly understand the frustrations that a genuine tourist would face wishing to SPEND money in Ghana.
I have always argued that genuine tourists travel to a DESTINATION, not to a hotel nor a conference. Once the destination is decided upon, only then are the hotels and activities researched and the itinerary booked.
That is the notion that the Ghana Tourism Authority, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials don’t seem to understand. They are not interested in genuine tourists. They focus on those that attend conferences. Those arrivals do just that, attend conferences and fly back out again showing no interest in the country whatsoever. Business/conference travellers face no visa hassles. Their offices take care of all that. And they don’t care about nor pay for the ridiculously high Accra hotel room rates nor anything else.
I am currently back in the UK working on Destination Ghana online, which hopefully will become live in July. Hoteliers wishing to be part of the directory can contact me on fktumi@yahoo.com

This is fiction. It was only written with the intent to promote thinking and discussion on the scrap short term tourist visas to Ghana issue. Join comment and share the FB group and sign the petition.

President Mahama (PM): Hello, Jacob, thank you for hosting me and my delegation here in Pretoria.

President Zuma (PZ): You’re welcome, John. Say I read your book My First Coup D’Etat. It got you into a little hot water I read. I’m thinking of publishing my own memoir. Could I have an introduction to Andrew Solomon. It won’t pose any problems for me here in South Africa.

PM: Enough, Jacob..let’s talk about things important…

PZ: Sure, how about tourism..Did you know that 1 in 12 people are supported by tourism in South Africa? What about in Ghana?

PM: Hmm, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

PZ: And tourism contributed directly and indirectly 7.9% of GDP or R190 billion in 2009 and we are aiming for R500 and 15 million worldwide visitors by 2020, realizing US$75 billion tourism revenue per year and creating 225,000 new jobs by 2020

PM: Wow, how do you do it?

PZ: Well, John, it’s hard work and we do invest a lot into the sector. You know the ole saying, “No pain, no gain.” But talking specifics, we have policies in place to facilitate easy entry for tourists to S.A. So important, John. And then, we have entered into reciprocal agreements with certain counties, like Benin. Citizens of both countries can enter without acquiring a VISA.

PM: Say Jacob, why don’t we sign an agreement like that, you and me, Ghana and South Africa. We have a large S.A. presence in Ghana

PZ: Not so fast John, my father-in-law was just telling me about all the hoops he has to jump through to get a short term tourist VISA to Ghana. In fact, this will be his second time to Ghana and he told me it is harder now to get the VISA than a few years ago.

PM: Tell you what Jacob, on my return to Ghana I’ll have a word with the sector ministers and department heads and see what can be done about this situation. No promises to your father-in-law though…

PZ: and another thing we do is market S.A. aggressively. You must have seen our CNN campaign. It cost a fortune, John. But the returns…oh, la, la!

PM: Which brings me to the real reason, why I’m here…S.A. assistance for Ghanaian infrastructure projects.

PZ: Hmmm, it all depends on tourism revenues, John, ours and hopefully yours.

And just before you go, I read in your book you are working on a second book…any ideas for a title.

PM: Bye, Jacob….

INVITATION WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION…COMMENT BELOW AND I’LL PUT IT ON THE SCRAP SHORT TERM TOURISM VISA TO GHANA FB GROUP PAGE.

Hope you enjoyed this…I look forward to your feedback.

Sign the petition and share. To date, and it was only started yesterday, we have 25 signatories. 75 more to go for Victory, whatever that means….Thank you.

And hope you have joined the Facebook Group of the same name.

Now if you call up the map using this link and click on Ghana, you will read why Ghana is rated Free-green! Now read the comments following the item on the Embassy Facebook page, including yours truly commenting on Ghana’s failure to pass the Right to Information Act….it seems that the overwhelming opinion of friends of the US Embassy Ghana who braved a comment is that Ghana does not have much freedom of the press for a variety of reasons.

Should you be interested in Ghana’s non passage of THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, here’s a link to a previous post on the matter. And a second post entitled Hillary Clinton:Checklist for Ghana Visit

“When a yam doesn’t grow well, we don’t blame it; it is because of the soil.”

This comment was made in response to my observation on how Ghanaians overseas “shine, shine shine”.

Anyways to continue, I share here a wonderful article entitled A Case for Kumasi International Airport that I found through Google News Kumasi that appeared on the Ghanaweb website. Does the writer, living in Texas, ever make a strong argument for locating Ghana’s second international airport at Kumasi!

Here’s my comment with the title MAKES SENSE:

“Cogent writing! check out scrap short-term visas to ghana Facebook group where I mention Ningo project
and I address the issue on madinghana dot wordpress blog where I will paste a link to this wonderful article….
you’re in Texas? Pity!”

One of the comments following the article caught my eye:

“A good case on decentralization. I suggest you push this to the attention of the people at the top.
To all those making noise and heaping insults, I’ll say grow up and stop your narrow-minded nonsense. The guy is making a good case for the development of Mother Ghana. He made no mention of tribe or anything else and if, you read carefully, you’ll know that, his main emphasis is on decentralization.”

and my response to this comment with the title SUPPORT:

“well stated! I will share the article with the K.M.A. to start with”

Here is madinghana’s last post on the issue of where to locate Ghana’s second international airport dated June 21, 2012 entitled “TAMALE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: KUMASI BYPASSED” The decentralization argument is highlighted.

HAPPY MAY DAY! It’s morning and it’s raining here in Kumasi. Decided to do some real work on Worker’s Day, like create a Facebook group to advocate for something I am passionate about….TOURISTS COMING IN THEIR NUMBERS TO GHANA!

Here’s my inspiration. Yesterday our son Frank told me he had been talking to a friend back in Canada who was really upset by Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s proposal to shut down the air cadets’ gliding program in Canada. Well, this morning, what do I see? A Facebook page entitled Saving Air Cadet Gliding creating awareness towards the issue.

Then coincidentally, I saw on my madinghana.wordpress blog that I had six views so far this morning and one of them was GHANA: SCRAP SHORT TERM TOURIST VISAS-UPDATE from June 11, 2012. If you really want to get some background on the issue just search ‘scrap short-term tourist visas to Ghana’ on the madinghana blog. I just did and THERE ARE 19 ITEMS! Guess I’m the veritable broken record…must be doing something wrong… advocacy is tough anywhere, but here…oh…

Anyways, here’s a description of the group:

“This group seeks to advocate for change in Ghana’s increasingly stringent regulations regarding the procurement of short term tourist visas to Ghana. This situation has the potential of thwarting the development of the Ghanaian hospitality sector, a major source of wealth creation in Ghana and employment. We encourage people, tourists as well as owners and workers in the sector, to share their stories and ideas on this subject.”

HOPE YOU JOIN AND CONTRIBUTE AND SPREAD THE WORD!

Note: I copied the Ghana Immigration Service’s web site banner because tomorrow I will email the acting director of the Ghana Immigration Service, whose email address is progressively included in the contact us section of the web site, with an invitation to join the group and contribute.

COP DR. PETER A. WIREDU
(Ag Director of the Ghana Immigration Service)

Why, oh why, would a ‘friend’ take a picture of a receipt for electrical goods and like it!? And, by the way, it is NOT ME!

Is the person so proud of his purchases that he/she wants to show off? Is the person aghast at how much the purchases cost in comparison to,let’s say, last year? Or, is the person showing that he didn’t get an official VAT receipt and no tax was collected on the amount?

If it was me, and I’ve already told you it was not, it would be the latter reason. Just recently, there was a lot of news coverage on ‘Africans remittances outweigh Western aid’. I posted the link on http://www.facebook.com/christopherscott with the comment:

“Why don’t we get stats on tax collection country by country and year by year and an analysis of tax collection in relation to aid and remittances?”

I call aid and remittances the double edged sword that stimulates dependency and not growth. Furthermore, I believe it facilitates governments shirking their responsibilities to provide their citizenry with basic human rights and needs.

Now you do the math on how much tax revenue the government does NOT get from the above sale and then multiply it by all those other receipts from all those other electrical stores and hell all those other stores that deal in construction materials, plumbing, tiles, louvres, burglar proofing, t and g etc. etc.

And here’s the big irony, I would expect that most of these big purchases are being made by elite factions…diasporans, high government officials…..

Should you be interested in other posts on the madinghana blog on the subject of VAT, put out a search…you WILL be surprised at just how passionate I am about this avenue as the key to poverty alleviation and progress/development.

P.S. the name of the store is irrelevant…few retailers issue VAT receipts-it’s almost a recipe for failure…..of their business..another irony as society fails…

A perennial subject of this blog is local governance and the issue usually is the proliferation of signs in this once beautiful city and the charging for signboards to locate your business on your property saying that its advertising.

Yes, how Kumasi has been uglified (no such word but what the hell) by signboards, banners etc since the early 70′s when I first came here. Today Kumasi has become ‘THE SIGN CITY OF WEST AFRICA’, no longer ‘THE GARDEN CITY OF WEST AFRICA’. And yes, one signboard in front of your business attracts a yearly advertising fee-that increases dramatically each year.

Well, our new mayor is starting to take action against illegal signboards.

Yeah! Not the Four Villages Inn sign in front of Four Villages Inn though. We took down it down and replaced it with a slab of concrete!

Good luck Mr. Mayor!

Kojo Bonsu, KMA Chief Executive

Now back to the post…

This is the Adinkra symbol for Mother Earth. ASASE YE DURU
“the Earth has weight” is the symbol of providence and the divinity of Mother Earth. I took this picture a couple of day’s ago at Ntonso, the Adinkra village knowing Earth Day was coming up. That was going to be the post…until….

From Ntonso, Four Villages Inn tours went off to Bobiri Forest Reserve and Butterfly Sanctuary, a magical spot celebrated previously on this blog. The site’s brochure reads, “The Reserve is the largest preserved parcel of land administered by the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana. It harbours giant ancient tree species such as milicia and entandrophragma species”

“Harbours”….”Preserved”…..ha!

Now on this particular Sunday, the silence was broken by the sound of a grating engine and low and behold look what came out of the forest! ….Must get a picture of this, thought I…

But at least it was empty….then, oh no, another truck appeared out of the forest. Again, I quickly darted behind a tree and got a couple of pictures with my trusty iPad…one a close up and a second to locate the scene at Bobiri Forest Reserve and Butterfly Sanctuary for those who know the place.

The Four Villages Inn guests saw the truck and logs and asked their guide what was happening and he explained that each company was allocated a number of trees marked with numbers and they were permitted to cut those down. Back at the reception area/guesthouse, I was explained that on the other side of the reserve was a cutting area and they just use the road that passes through the reserve to get the logs out.

Well, I wonder, because in all the years going there, I have never seen this before! And it should be stopped-legal or illegal-because it destroys the majesty of this magical place “with its lush greenery and mystifying atmosphere.”

I started this post with an adinkra symbol. Just copied this…”Adinkra can be literally translated to “good-bye”, or “farewell” in Asante Twi, a language spoken in Ghana by approximately 15 million people. At one time, Adinkra cloth and symbols were only worn and displayed during funerals. The symbols signified their sorrow and acted as a way to bid farewell to the deceased.”

WHAT WE ARE REALLY SAYING GOOD BYE TO IS OUR FORESTS. IT IS REPORTED THAT GHANA TO DATE HAS LOST OVER 70% OF ITS FOREST COVER, SO NOW THEY HAVE TO GO TO PROTECTED AREAS.

AND IT WILL NOT BE STOPPED.