Accra: The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has called on Africans to reject xenophobia and discrimination and promote unity across the continent. The Authority emphasized that political borders should not undermine the shared identity and common heritage of Africans.
According to Ghana News Agency, at the 2026 Emancipation Day commemoration held at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, Mrs. Maame Efua Houadjeto, Chief Executive Officer of GTA, urged Africans to embrace the ideals of Pan-Africanism. She stated, "There can be no foreigner in Africa. The African who crosses a border in search of opportunity, education, refuge or a better future is not an outsider. He or she is our brother or sister."
Mrs. Houadjeto highlighted recent incidents of xenophobia in parts of Africa as a call for greater solidarity among African states and peoples. She noted that Emancipation Day serves as an opportunity to reflect on the continent's history and renew commitment to dignity, justice, identity, and unity. "We cannot gather to honour those whose chains were broken centuries ago while allowing new chains of fear, violence and exclusion to divide us," she added.
The Ghana Tourism Authority, according to Mrs. Houadjeto, will continue to promote heritage sites and cultural initiatives that strengthen links between Africa and its diaspora. "These initiatives are more than tourism programmes. They are bridges of reconciliation, platforms for healing and opportunities to strengthen cultural ties, encourage investment and reaffirm that Africa remains the ancestral home of people of African descent everywhere," she said.
In remarks delivered on behalf of Juliette Babb-Riley, Barbados High Commissioner to Ghana, the envoy emphasized that Emancipation Day was an opportunity to honor those affected by the transatlantic slave trade and strengthen ties between Africa and its diaspora. The High Commissioner noted that Barbados and Ghana plan to formalize a twinning arrangement between Cape Coast and Speightstown later this year to promote heritage tourism, cultural exchange, and closer people-to-people relations. She expressed hope that the Atlantic Ocean, once remembered as a route of suffering during the slave trade, would increasingly become "a bridge of partnership, opportunity and reconnection between Africa and the Caribbean."