Tourism: Ghanaian President explains how Kente Became African Identity Symbol

The President of Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo has said Ghana’s creative arts industry is thriving as the country’s famous ‘kente’ is now African identity symbol know globally.

Speaking at the Baba Yara Sport Stadium at the 63rd independence anniversary celebration in Kumasi, Ashanti Region on Friday, 6 March 2020, the President said: “The creative arts are thriving, and there are exciting things to interest a wide range of people”.

According to ghanatodayonline.com, the fashion scene, he said, “is vibrant, and unearths new talent every day”.

“Take a look around this stadium today, and feast your eyes on the riot of colours and the wide variety of styles that our kente weavers can conjure.

“Every day, this ancient, royal, eye-catching, beautiful fabric is reinvented to win over new generations. The kente, of course, has crossed over our borders, and is no longer exclusively Ghanaian, but the symbol of identity for peoples of African descent everywhere”, the President noted.

He observed that: “Our designers, tailors and dressmakers keep Ghanaian-made clothes in the top range of attractive clothes”, adding: “Art galleries are alive with established and new painters and sculptors, and there are signs of their innovative works all around us”.

“We have always been known for musical talent, and this generation is keeping up the tradition”.

The President also urged Ghanaians to keep being Ghanaian in this election year.

“Fellow Ghanaians, there is renewed confidence in our foods, and a strong belief in the things that define us as Ghanaians. We have always been known for arguments and debates, and, in an election year, it is predictable that the decibel level would go up. That is what we are currently experiencing, but, as the saying goes, even as the arguments get louder, we keep a keen look out for each other’s eyes.

“There is an Akan proverb that says: ‘Omanni ko, y3ko a, y3keka nwi so; yenntutu ase?’. When we fight as members of a community or family, we bite off hair; we do not uproot it. In other words, in our gravest moments of fury, we strive to avoid bloodshed.

“The consensus is holding for all of us to work towards the prosperous, peaceful and happy Ghana we want. We all recognise that the responsibility we carry as the first sub-Saharan colonial country to gain independence is not simply to build a successful country. We owe it to the rest of the continent and the black race to demonstrate that, indeed, we can build and run a successful, prosperous and happy country. This is a task we do not shirk, and which all Ghanaians accept”, he said.

Source: ghanatodayonline.com