Tourism Minister ‘silent’ on real cost of 2018 AFRIMA hosting deal

The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng Gyasi has been tight-lipped on the actual cost of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) which was held in Ghana in 2018.

Last week, the Minister told Atinka TV in an interview that contrary to earlier information that Ghana committed $4.5 million to host AFRIMA for three years, the government only paid ‘something little’ for the programmes.

“We didn’t pay $4.5 million. That amount was what was proposed but we paid them ‘something little’ and we took care of the arrangement cost. We only paid what would give us the right to host (AFRIMA) in Ghana,” she said.

When asked in an interview with Citi TV during the 2019 Miss Ghana beauty pageant at the Kempinski Hotel to state the real cost of the ‘something little,’ she was rather evasive.

“I know that generated a lot of controversies and it was supposed to have been held in Ghana for three years. And upon assessment of the first year, we felt that we couldn’t go forward for the next two years and therefore we let it go and I think we should leave it at that,” she noted.

She was also not certain when the real figures of the cost would be made available to the public.

“I think there’ll be time for that,” Barbara said.

The issue of AFRIMA and the franchise acquired by Ghana for the 2018 edition stoked a lot of debates among entertainment stakeholders in Ghana.

Most entertainment pundits argued that it was a waste of money to have gone for the deal when the government had a lot of developmental projects to embark on for its art and tourism sector.

However, the Former Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Catherine Afeku had reiterated that the hosting of the award in Ghana was in tandem with the government’s national development agenda to boost the arts and tourism economy.