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www.ghanaweb.com: General News of Tuesday, 22 November 2005

Special visa for Africans in Diaspora

Accra, Nov. 22, GNA - Beginning from 2007, Ghana would start issuing
special visas to Africans in the Diaspora to give them free access
into the country without needing ordinary visas anytime they had to
come, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and
Modernisation of the Capital City, announced on Tuesday. He noted
the Diaspora visa regime was different from dual citizenship, which
was also in the pipeline, saying that while the Diaspora visa was
available for all Africans in the Diaspora, the dual citizenship was
for those who would make long-term investments. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey
made the announcement at a day's seminar for a 50-member delegation
from Chicago, United States, on a fact-finding visit to the
country. The delegation, led by Professor Ken Akainyah, a Ghanaian
professor at the Kennedy King College in the Chicago, Illinois,
included lawyers, bankers, musicians, IT professionals,
parliamentarians and others interested in areas such as automatic
banking, agriculture, education, political planning and
consultancy. "The Diaspora visa would allow you our brothers and
sisters coming from the land of your slavery free entry into our
country without needing a visa anytime you have to come," the
Minister told the delegation. He said the Diaspora visa regime
formed part of the Joseph Project being spearheaded by Ghana for
Africa to bring back the descendants of Africans who were taken to
the West during the slave trade era. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey noted
that Africans in the Diaspora had acquired such depth of skills
while Africa suffered from brain drain, saying that the Joseph
Project was designed to return some of the skills and resources in
the Diaspora for the development of the Continent. He pledged that
there would be non-interference of politicians in the activities of
the Project, saying that the Government had started it but would
hand it over to civil society to ensure that it was not affected by
change of government. The Joseph Project, dubbed "Akwaaba Anyemi",
meaning 'Welcome Sibling" would take off on August 23, 2007
with "The Healing", comprising an expiation and forgiveness
ceremony, as well as a healing concert.

Mr Yoofi Grant of Databank noted that though the African-American
Market contributed more than 300 billion dollars annually to the
American economy, not even a dollar of that amount went to develop
Africa.
He said for that matter a group of African-Americans had set up a
50 million-dollar fund to begin the process of channelling some of
that huge amount into Africa.

Mr Grant noted that although Africa presented the best opportunities
for investment in the world today, very little came to the Continent
in terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Mr Daniel Hagan, Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and
Evaluation of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said under the
Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), exports from Ghana to the US
enjoyed tariff holidays and, therefore, stood the chance of
competing favourably with those produced in America.

He, therefore, urged them to establish factories, especially in the
free zones enclaves and enjoy less expensive labour and gain maximum
returns by accessing the AGOA initiative. 22 Nov. 05

The Joseph Project, dubbed "Akwaaba Anyemi",
meaning 'Welcome Sibling" would take off on August 23, 2007
with "The Healing", comprising an expiation and forgiveness
ceremony, as well as a healing concert.

I have been hearing about this project for years or at least the talk of diasporan Africans returning without visa restrictions and it is nice to know that it is ABOUT to come to pass. An important step in a long journey.

I THOUGHT Jerry Rawlings made this a REALITY in Ghana about 10 years ago???

I guess he DID not.