I first heard the name Brand Ghana during the tenure of office of our late President Prof. John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills. I mean, the year 2011.
The mandate of Brand Ghana office as I learnt was that, it is an outfit that is going to be charged with the responsibility of branding Ghana (like a product), to become a global competitor in attracting foreign investors.
I’ve once advocated to the effect that Ghana can best be marketed to the outside world through our creative art sector and even suggested a biopic about Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, as the best tool to use.
After that publication, I asked some close associates about Brand Ghana and none of them could tell me where the office of Brand Ghana is. As a matter of fact, some of them had not even heard the name Brand Ghana before, not to talk of where their (Brand Ghana) office is located or what they do.
Resorting to the internet, I used all the reliable search engines I known to search for the official website of Brand Ghana but nothing too relevant about them popped up. Only articles people have written about them or articles that have the words ‘Brand Ghana’ shown up.
Ever since the Brand Ghana office was established, never have I heard any of its management personnel on radio informing the public of any policy or strategy they have put in place or about to put in place to ensure that they are really ready to brand Ghana.
If Brand Ghana is alive, why hasn’t the history behind Ghana’s cocoa not told to the world? At least a biopic or documentary about how Tetteh Quarshie brought cocoa from Fernando Po to Ghana is a tool for marketing Ghana’s cocoa to the international market.
If Brand Ghana is alive, why is it that when I try to use my debit card to buy things online, I go through the list of countries and Ghana is missing out of the list of African countries? Yet, I see cocoyam and ginger growing small countries like Togo and Benin there.