•Zambia’s High Commissioner to Ghana Timothy Walamba (middle) addresses Zambia and Ghana tour operators at Chrismar Hotel in Livingstone. On his immediate right is Ghana Tourism Development Company Chief Executive Officer Samuel Atta Mills and Tour Operators Union of Ghana President Nancy Sam. On his immediate left is Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA) chairperson Alex Mutali and Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) managing director Felix Chaila. Picture by BRIAN HATYOKA

By BRIAN HATYOKA –
IT is undeniable fact that Zambia and Ghana have continued to enjoy a good relationship for many years now.
This is the reason why one of the newly created public Universities in Zambia, Nkwame Nkrumah, has been named after Ghana’s former President.
In 1957, Ghana became the first African nation to declare independence from Europe while Zambia attained independence in 1964 from the British rule.
According to a former freedom fighter, who is currently Zambia’s High Commissioner to Ghana Timothy Walamba, Ghana and Zambia are like twins from one family.
“When we were fighting for independence in neighbouring countries, the first trip we made abroad was to meet Ghana President Nkwame Nkrumah in that country.
“When President Michael Sata swore me as Zambia’s diplomat to that country, I was given the assignment of cementing the relationship between Ghana and Zambia. So far, I have done a lot in this aspect,” Mr Walamba said.
It is because of such existing relations between the two countries that other sectors of the economy are also getting interested to partner.
One such sector that has expressed interest to collaborate with its Ghana counterpart is the tourism sector.
For instance, Ghana attracts more than one million leisure tourist arrivals in a year compared to 250,000 for Zambia annually.
Similarly, Ghana attracts about four million business tourists yearly while Zambia only attracts about a million in a year.
Further, Ghana has direct flights to Europe and United States of America (USA) while the distance from that country to the two markers is shorter compared to Zambia.
It only takes about six to seven hours to fly from Ghana to Europe and about eight to nine hours to fly from Ghana to USA.
In Zambia, it takes more than 10 hours for one to fly to Europe while there are no direct flights to USA.
Ghana, therefore, has an advantage in terms of receiving more tourists from Europe and USA compared to Zambia owing to its strategic location.
In terms of tourist attractions, Ghana has several sites which Zambia doesn’t have while Zambia also has many attractive sites which Ghana doesn’t have.
By and large, Zambia has certain strengths in the area of tourism which Ghana does not have while Ghana also has certain strength which Zambia does not have.
For example, Zambia is the home to the ‘mighty’ Victoria Falls which is one of the seven Wonders of the whole world which is absent in Ghana.
On the other hand, Ghana is the home of places which were used for slave trade in Africa before the two countries attained their independence many years ago.
Furthermore, Ghana is located closer to Nigeria where there are a lot of millionaires who like travelling.
Like the case for Zambia, Ghana has a very stable political environment where a number of Presidents have been elected peacefully since independence which is an important ingredient for tourism.
Ghana also has 36 airlines which fly to that country and this makes the country an attractive destination for ourists across the globe.
In terms of the population, Ghana has about 25 million people while the total population for Zambia is about 13 million.
This is why plans are underway for the two countries to collaborate in the area of tourism so that tourists who visit Zambia could also have an opportunity to visit Ghana to enable them enjoy tourism products in both countries.
This is possible in that Kenya Airways, which flies directly to Ghana and Zambia, can be helpful to take guests to the two destinations without any connectivity problem.
For instance, joint tourism packages could be arranged where tourists sample various products like the Victoria Falls in Zambia and slave trade sites in Ghana as they visit Africa within the same period.
Recently, a high powered delegation of four Ghana tour operators led by Zambia’s Ambassador to that country Mr Walamba visited Zambia particularly in Livingstone mainly to explore the areas of collaboration between the two countries.
The delegation, which was in Zambia’s tourist capital, held a meeting with ZTB officials and selected Zambian tour operators under the auspices of Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA).
According to Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) Managing Director Felix Chaila, Zambia and Ghana are currently assessing the possibility of crafting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote collaboration in the area of tourism.
Mr Chaila says some areas which have been identified for collaboration are benchmarking as well as cultural exchange and joint tourism marketing.
The Ministry of Tourism and Arts in Zambia and the Ministry of Tourism in Ghana are expected to draft and sign the MOU.
Mr Chaila says there is an opportunity to extend tourists who visit Ghana to visit Zambia once the collaboration is effected.
Ghana Tourism Development Company Chief Executive Officer Samuel Atta Mills, who was part of the Ghanaian delegation, says tourism in West Africa is unique as the region still has places where slave trade was experienced.
Mr Mills is of the view that Zambia has done a very good job to market tourism but the kind of tourism products in the country are different from those in Ghana.
“We also have chiefs who dress in gold and diamonds as well as great music and this attracts a lot of people.
We are near Europe and USA and that makes us the best strategic location. Further, we have peace in Ghana and crime is very low,” he said.
Mr Mills says the Victoria Falls found in Zambia is bigger and better than the small waterfalls found in Ghana.
“Once we start collaborating, tourists will come to Ghana for two weeks and extend their visit to Zambia instead of going back to their countries and come to Zambia the following year,” he said.
Mr Mills said Africa has a huge potential for tourism and it is important that Africans tell their story to the outside world.
“I lived in USA for 30 years and what I was told about Africa was wars and poverty. We in Africa have a big story to tell on our culture.
Let’s tell our story as Africans. It is only in Africa that you can find huge deposits of diamond, manganese and copper as well as Big five animals and Victoria Falls among others,” he said.
Mr Mills says Ghana has a dynamic culture as well as a vibrant youth group and strong music which were key in attracting tourists.
“Our movies very strong and we also have national parks but Zambia has more animals that we do.
We also have oil and that brings a lot of people. Unfortunately, many American friends think that they have come in Africa by visiting Ghana alone.
That is why we are encouraging multiple destinations because our tourists want to see more. Zambia should encourage their tourists to also go to West Africa. If you build a million dollar home or hotel in Ghana, it will sell within a week,” Mr Mills said.
Tour Operators Union of Ghana President Nancy Sam, who was also part of the Ghanaian delegation that visited Zambia, says her team’s visit to the country is a milestone and the greatest in Southern Africa.
Ms Sam says Zambia is like a paradise on its own and hence there is need for more visits to the country to sample tourism.
“With what we have seen in Livingstone, we will tell the 25 million Ghanaians what we saw in Livingstone like Victoria Falls and walking with lions.
This is something we will go back home and tell them to participate. We want to tell our tourists that if they have money, let them spend it in Africa and not outside Africa,” Ms Sam said.
She says her delegation will tell many Ghanaians and Nigerians to come and visit Zambia because there is a lot to see in the county.
“We will ask the Nigerians, who are big spenders, and other fellow Africans to participate in what is happening here.
There are certain things that Ghana also has besides the castles which were left from the slave trade business,” she said.
Ms Sam says Ghana has the golden salt which is one of the major tourist attractions and the place has been on the ground for past 100 years in the central part of the country called Kumasi in Ashanti Kingdom.
“This is one of the very powerful kingdoms. Before people settled in that kingdom, the King said he was going to bring the salt from heaven and bring the golden tool which fell from heaven and then salt was put on the ground.
It is believed that the Ashanti Kingdom will come to an end on the day that salt will be removed,” Ms Nancy said.
During the time of Mohamed Ali, he visited Ghana as a black American.
Ali said he was a champion and that he could pull out the salt but tried and failed to do so.
“Ghana also wanted to build a hospital near the golden salt and contractors wanted to remove the salt.
The bulldozer failed and part of the equipment started crashing. They had to put the hospital next to the salt and nobody has been able to remove the salt for the last 100 years,” Ms Sam said.
Ms Sam says Ghana has a crocodile river in the Northern part which is another major tourist attraction.
People in that village believe that there are humans who live there but they have turned into crocodiles.
At night, they sleep outside but they see about 3, 000 crocodiles coming to sleep in balcony in the morning.
Accordingly to Ms Sam, children in that village swim with crocodiles while women wash by the pool side.
“It is so interesting. But if you are stranger and you have to see the crock, you call their by the name and they will come.
You throw a chicken at the crocodiles and the reptiles will get the chicken. They will come for 35 minutes and you take a picture after which the crocodile will shake its tail to show that they are done and can leave. If you want them to stay for another 35 minutes, you have to give them another chicken,” Ms Sam said.
And Mr Walamba says Zambia depends much on copper production and hence it is important that the country moves away from copper to focus on other sectors of the economy such as agriculture and tourism.
He says the country cannot go wrong if more efforts are focused on agriculture and tourism,
“In Ghana, there is a company called Zoomlion which is almost the whole of West Africa. This company is doing wonders such as Motor Assembly, motor cycle assembly and they have a factory for plastic production and refuse collection.
Where they dump their rubbish, they have a machine which gets plastics. When plastics are recycled, they come up with dustbins and put plastic bottles and economically they are making money which we can learn as Zambia,” Mr Walamba said.
He also says Zoomlion produces manure from the same rubbish and such initiatives could help in Zambia where the price of fertilizer is very expensive.
“There is no competition in the Zambia’s fertiliser area and hence the product is expensive.
If Zoomlion came here, where there is a lot of rubbish, those producing fertiliser will have competition as small-scale farmers will go for manure and fertiliser prices will come down,” Mr Walamba said.
In Ghana, Mr Walamba also says there is an association which is looking for employment of young ones and they are doing very well.
He says young people are being helped to create jobs for themselves in Ghana unlike in Zambia where most graduates always wait to be employed in the former sector.
“I have already made arrangements in Ghana for the Youth and Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili and his Local Government counterpart Emmanuel Chenda to come there and get some lessons from that country.
When we go back to Ghana, you will be seeing groups of people coming to Zambia both blacks and white,” he said.
Mr Walamba has also asked the President of Ghana to come to Zambia during the 50th independence jubilee celebrations this year.
“I made the same invitation to President in Gambia, who is a very young man and stayed in Zambia some time.
He has a crocodile file and all crocodiles came from Zambia. He has a large groundnuts and maize farm most of which came from Zambia,” Mr Walamba said.
Mr Walamba says there is need for African countries to learn from Zambia’s long history of peace to avoid conflicts and wars within the continent.
He says Zambia has enjoyed peace and unity for many years and it is important that such attributes about the country were transferred to other countries on the continent.
Mr Walamba has very high respect for Zambia’s First Republican President Kenneth for promoting peace and unity which has built Zambia for many years.
He says it is unacceptable and unfortunate that Africa still has countries where local people are killing each other simply because they were from different tribes or religions.
“Before Zambia attained independence in 1964, the more than 70 tribes in the country could not mix and marry each other but President Kaunda managed to unite us when he came up with the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ slogan.
Today, there are no restrictions on whom one should marry in Zambia and we want to transfer this kind of unity and peace to our colleagues in Africa,” Mr Walamba said.
He said there is need for the continent to adhere to calls from late Ghana President Nkwame Nkrumah who started the idea of forming the United States of Africa.
“God willing, we should ensure to promote unity in Africa. We have countries in Africa where Christians and Muslims kill each other.
“We can’t tolerate such nonsense and that is why we want our fellow Africans to come here in Zambia and learn from us the peace and unity we have cherished since 1964,” he said.
Indeed the continued collaboration between Zambia and Ghana will go a long way to promote the much needed development in the two countries.