MINISTRY OF TOURISM ARTS & CULTURE SHOULD ACCOUNT FOR THE $50 MILLION DOLLARS FROM WORLD BANK AS COVID19 SUPPORT- FOCAP
FOCAP Which is the Foundation of Concerned Arts Professionals known has been following with Keen interest the level of grants so far received by the Ministry of Tourism Arts & Culture to help the Creative Industry in the name of Covid19 effects from the World Bank.
The revitalization of the tourism sector is indeed necessary due to themassive hit by Covid19 which all and sundry will agree that the Tourism Arts & Culture had the biggest and greatest hit.
FOCAP, in digging into the number of grants received from World Bank from 2019 to 2022 stands in totality, at about $50 million dollars.
It is in this light that we are demanding the Ministry of Tourism Arts & Culture to come out with a meet the press to account to the industry how these monies were distributed among the sector, the productivity, and positive results that has yielded so far.
The World Bank gave a $40- million dollars facility which was extended to the
government of Ghana, under the ministry of Tourism, Arts &Culture which was the first ofits kind in the history of tourism ministry in Ghana, to support government’s continuous quest to develop the tourism and hospitality landscape.
This was launched by the former Minister Hon Barbara Oteng Gyasi on Wednesday 24th June, 2020.
The fund was to mitigate the adverse economic effects of the Covid19 pandemic
on SMEs on the tourism value chain in Ghana.
website of the ministryhad a 4-year project duration spanning from 2019- 2022.
The grant according to the website of the ministryhad a 4-year project duration spanning from 2019- 2022.
The grant had three phases which included Site Upgrade grant(SUG) aimed at supporting operators of Non- Publicly owned tourist sites to undertake quality upgrades of their site, the second category was Small and Medium Enterprise Grant(SMEG) which supported firms with already viable businesses prospects
and well- developed business plans whiles the third category was training and capacity building grant, which also targeted Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with new business ideas, lessand not-well developed businesses.
Within the same year (2019), an initial capital of $9- million dollars had been allocated to support about 1,000 businesses in the tourism value chain in Ghana regarding the Grant scheme launched for SMEs in the tourism sector.
FOCAP, has noted yet another $10million dollars tourism Grant for SMEs to
transform the tourism sector and stimulate economic growth.
The Grant is being provided by the international Development Association of the World Bank
Group to support Ghana’s Government’s Tourism Development Project, an
initiative to improve tourism performance, upgrade tourism sites and capacities in the sector and increase tourism revenues.
According to the President who launched the Grant said the disbursement ofthe Grant is in line with government’s efforts to support SMEs in the tourism and arts value chain to recover quickly from the impact of the Covid19 pandemic and help create jobs for the people.
FOCAP, is asking the government of Ghana through the ministry of tourism arts and culture to tell stakeholders in the sector the amounts distributed especially when a lot of individual stakeholders have denied receiving funds even though they applied and also what has been the positive impact and growth in the industry.
The industry we believe deserve to know how these monies have been distributed to the various organizations under the sector and how it has performed.
Kojo Preko Dankwa President
0550077040/0575655656.
Enoch Agyepong
Vice President Research 0244712136
Mel Kwesi Davis Vice President 0246550298
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