A severe rainstorm caused trees at the edge of the waterfall to fall on visitors to the site earlier this year killing about 20 people and injuring 20 others. Most of the people who lost their lives were students of Wenchi Methodist School.
The Vice President, Dr. Bawumia who was at the re-opening of the tourist site described the unfortunate incident as a “very very sad occasion” and commended the stakeholders involved in the restoration of the Kintampo waterfall known as one of Ghana’s key Tourism destinations.
“I must on this occasion really thank Nanaom, thank the Minister for Tourism and the Deputy Minister and all who were involved in this rehabilitation of the Kintampo waterfalls that we are seeing today. They did a very good job,” he said while singling out one Baba whom he said showed a lot of love and dedication.
Promoting unity, the Vice President stated that the efforts put in place to make the Kintampo water falls function again indicated that as a country, when we come together as one people and focus on doing something we can all achieve the goal.
“We got together as one people and said we have to rehabilitate the waterfall and reopen it and by the grace of God we are here to reopen it,” he uttered.
Dr Bawumia, in his speech, emphatically stated that Tourism is a very important industry in Ghana hence the need to take proper care of natural resources which he also termed as gifts from God.
He assured those present at the ceremony that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would be signed by patrons who will share the responsibility of taking proper care of the tourist site.
“We should really dedicate ourselves to looking after the waterfall and this is why it is so important that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was going to be signed by the chiefs, the District Assembly, the Municipal Assembly, as well as the Ministry of Tourism will testify that all of us share the responsibility for looking after this precious gift from God and let us continue to do so.”
The event was attended by the Chiefs and people of the town, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and the CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority.
