“Look Homeward!” Ambassador Akyaa Pobee Tells Ghanaian Diaspora

by E. OBIRI ADDO

Ghana’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations has challenged the Ghanaian diaspora to remain true to their roots during their sojourn overseas, and more importantly, to look back to help develop Ghana.

Her Excellency Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee made these remarks in a keynote address at a colorful inaugural dinner dance of the Asanteman Association of New Jersey on May 26, 2019 in Union, New Jersey.

She observed that the occasion which saw the display of the beautiful Asante culture was in line with the declaration of 2019 as the “Year of Return” by His Excellency President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.

This is a “a year within which all people of African descent are invited to embark on a spiritual and birth-right journey back to our roots in Africa, to mark 400 years of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia,” she explained.

According to Ms. Pobee the “Year of Return” and its accompanying “Disaporan Homecoming Conference” are intended to celebrate ways in which African people “turned around” years of humiliation, deprivation and human inhumanity to contribute in immense ways to the building of the Americas and elsewhere.

“Our culture has not been allowed to die out or drown in the oceans we had to cross to get here,” she stressed. Ambassador Akyaa Pobee, who is herself a Regent of the Akusu stool of Asante, commended diaspora Ghanaians on their ability to preserve their cultural identity and pass it on generationally.

“Ours is a rich culture and history and we should make sure that our children continue to take pride in it,” she added.

The dinner dance was the culmination of two-day event that marked the installations of and swearing-in ceremony of Otafregya Opoku Frimpong as Asantefuohene and Nana Akua Boahemaa as Asantefuohemaa of New Jersey.

The events were supervised by Nana Adusei Atwenewah Ampem, Paramount Chief of Tepa Traditional Area on behalf of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Also present to grace the occasion were Prof. Samuel Amoako, Ghana’s Consul-General in New York, Hon. Ras Baraka, Mayor of the City of Newark, New Jersey, Dr. Zachary Yamba, President Emeritus of Essex County College, Hon Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, and representatives of Ghana’s media.

The dinner-dance was chaired by Nana Otimpie Aben II. Otumfoo Osei Tutu’s Sasaamopaninhene who is also the proprietor of Charlottfields International Food Distributors Corp.

The writer, Dr. E. Obiri Addo is a Senior adviser of Amandla News

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