Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mark Okraku Mantey, has explained that the Global Citizen Festival that took place on September 24, 2022, had originally been scheduled to take place in Nigeria.
Ghana was picked by the organizers partly because President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had showed interest in having it take place in Ghana.
He stressed in an interview on Hitz FM, September 26, that the concert was part of efforts aimed at marketing Ghana’s tourism, “and so, president Akufo-Addo showed interest, originally Global Citizen, they wanted to go to Nigeria, for some good reasons, we were the ones who won,” he said.
The event has hogged the news headlines because of an incident where the president was booed by a section of the crowd as he arrived on stage to deliver his welcome address.
The governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, has suggested that the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, were behind the incident, something the NDC has roundly rejected stating that it was a sign of Akufo-Addo’s growing loss of popularity.
Exactly what happened?
Thousands of patrons were at the Black Star Square to witness the concert that had a number of local and international artistes performing.
As host of the event, the president was called upon to give his remarks, which happened to be a prepared speech that lasted over six minutes.
The booing happened when he started his speech saying: "The whole world is in Ghana today."
What started initially as people showing their disapproval of his presence on the stage, turned into loud clapping and chanting of the words: "away, away...," the president, however, stayed the course and delivered his full speech.
As if that was not enough, people on social media latched on to the development to mock the president.
Watch how the booing started:
About the Global Citizen group and its festival
Global Citizen is the world's largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty NOW.
The voices of millions of Global Citizens around the world are driving lasting change towards sustainability, equality, and humanity by taking action every day.
The Global Citizen Festival started as a music festival where fans take actions to end extreme poverty in order to earn free tickets to attend.
You can also watch this episode of People & Places here:
SARA
Mark Okraku Mantey, deputy minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts