The chief minister of tourism in the African nation of Ghana has a message for African Americans upset with the murder of George Floyd and police abuse around the country – come to Ghana.
Speaking at the ceremony on Friday, 5th June 2020, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi told an audience that the death of George Floyd could lead to an end to racism, not only in the US but across the globe.
“Racism in America continues to be a deadly pandemic, for which for more than 400 years now, our brothers and sisters in the United States of America have yearned for a cure. George Floyd was not the first black person to use the phrase ‘I can’t breathe’… The present situation we face today in the year 2020 with the death of George Floyd is going to result in change… One who condones evil is just as evil as the one who perpetrates it. That is why it is right not only for Chauvin to be charged but all his accomplices who, together, [killed George Floyd],” Ms Oteng-Gyasi said.
Ghana, last year, opened up the country to receive Africans in the diaspora through a government initiative called the Year of Return. Thousands of African Americans and blacks from other countries visited the country.
This year, the government has launched the “Beyond the Return” initiative to help Africans in the diaspora to settle in Ghana and invest in the economy. They’re offering a financial payment (in money or land) to any African American who moves to Ghana.