[ 2017-10-24 ]

Elmina, a former slave castle choking on poverty despite tourism monuments
In a smouldering heat on a Saturday afternoon at
Elmina in the Central Region, a group of young men
sat on the edge of a rusty metal bridge,
reflecting on life.
One of them, with a multi-coloured scarf around
his neck, wearing black bathroom sandals and faded
brown sleeveless shirt and a short pant, waved at
some fishermen in a canoe approaching the shore
from an overnight expedition.

“There are no jobs so we sit around here hoping
to assist market women with their goods for some
money,” he said with a heavy Fante accent.

Elmina is the capital of Komenda, Edina, Eguafo
and Abirem District stashed in the southern part
of Ghana facing the Atlantic Ocean, West of Cape
Coast, another slave castle. It has a population
of about 33,000.  It was the first town in West
Africa where Europeans took up residence, leading
to the construction of the famous castle, which
harbors memories of a gory historical past, where
millions of captured natives were kept, branded
with hot iron, auctioned before wine sipping white
merchants before being cramped into rickety ships,
and sent to the Americas as slaves.

The dark history has become an attraction for both
local and international visitors, who visit the
place with cameras in hand, listening to the
harrowing stories often narrated by tour guides. 
Prices differ for both visitors and despite the
amount of money often paid, the rippling effect on
the local community is yet to be felt by-prompting
some of the residents to defecate around the
monument as a form of protest.


“There are so many young people in this
community who could be engaged but look at
them,” Ekow Sagoe, 34, told me, pointing in the
direction of some residents attending to
nature’s call in the view of tourists standing
on top of one of the dungeons overlooking the
Atlantic Ocean.

“I am not supporting their act but when people
feel they do not have a stake in something, they
care less about how it is managed and that is what
we are seeing with the continues open defecation
around the castle.”


Few meters away from the castle is a sea of canoes
dotted on the main fishing bay lying on both ends
of the ocean, which parts the market and the
section of the town. The imposing Fort Sao Jago da
Mina, which served as a military base where the
slave merchants launched rockets at approaching
enemies, now sits on a hill overlooking the
canoes. The noise of aboard motors swells through
the barking heat and amidst the singing of some
fishermen trying to drill a nail into parts of a
broken canoe together, the voice of a van selling
medicine booms through a mangled public address
system, cascading through the crowd of fishmongers
trying to negotiate prices of crates of fishes
fresh from the sea.

“The business has slowed down a bit,” one
fisherman told me. “Light fishermen are still
recalcitrant and the impact is being felt all
around.”


Looking glum and unhappy, a sign the expedition
for the day had not gone right, Kwesi Attah, 32,
who has been fishing for the past ten years, said
their concerns have not been addressed by their
leaders, though they are aware of their situation.
Despite his age, years of hardships almost give
one the impression he could be older than the
stated age.  He told me he has six children and a
wife. Introduced into the fishing business by an
uncle of his, Attah said he is determined to see
his children go to school but dwindling nature of
the fishing business means their future is
uncertain.

“I want them to go to school and it is my
priority but they cannot be educated without
money,” he said.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has prioritized
education as a major component of the
transformation agenda of his regime and has
already started his ambitious free education
policy, starting with first-year students who
gained admission to various senior high schools in
the country.

According to him, education should not be the
preserve of the rich but every child from across
the country, who is qualified to access the
policy.

Ironically none of Kwesi Attah’s children are
qualified for the policy so will have to cough the
fees from his pocket, a situation he dreads
anytime the month or even the term is
approaching.

“It’s difficult for us, my brother,” he
said.

Though records are not available to prove the
authenticity of the claim, there is often the
story that Dr Kwame Nkrumah spent his last night
at Elmina before boarding a waiting ship which
would take him abroad for his education and later
political activism.

The historical wealth of this town which used to
be known as Anomansah (the perpetual drink) cannot
be over-emphasized, but wrenching poverty has
covered its beauty.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

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