The Ketu South Municipality is to benefit from a €90,000 grant for the development of three-town tourism projects in the Somey Traditional Area of the Municipality.
The projects, being funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation in Germany would put the Hedzranawo Community Slave Museum, Adzido Slave Market Centre and Adafienu Palace Slave Museum on the slave map.
Professor Wazi Apoh, a Development Archaeologist and initiator of the projects at separate sod cutting ceremonies said, it was important for the sites to be developed to tell the “rich story of the Somey people and their links with Keta where we have Fort Prinzeinstein”.
“Anywhere I go and see cultural resource that can be developed, I’m for it. So when I came here and saw lots of tangible and intangible relics of slavery, I asked why are all these so silent... ?”
Prof. Apoh said his search in the three communities revealed centuries-old buildings for keeping slaves and materials involved in the trade such as ancient bottles containing alcoholic beverages, mirrors, ceramic plates, glass and beads.
He said community members, “still have remains of slavery like the long chains” and at the Palace of Torgbui Dovoh of Adafienu, “important relics such as the Treaty of Adafienu in 1852 to end slavery, sword and staff with an embossed inscription of Her Majesty the Queen of England.”
Prof. Apoh appealed to community members with such important relics to loan it to management of the projects after their completion for purposes of preservation and addition to archival data to better tell stories of the places.
Torgbui Sape Agbo V, Dufia of Hedzranawo and Awaklasuga of Somey thanked Prof. Apoh for the efforts at developing tourist sites in the Municipality, and called on the Assembly to construct access roads to the sites to attract local and foreign tourists.
Mr Elliot Edem Agbenorwu, the Municipal Chief Executive for Ketu South, said the projects would boost the local economy, create jobs and open the area up for development, and pledged to fix the access roads and connect the area to the national grid.
Agbotadua Kumassah who represented Awoamefia Torgbui Sri III at the events, said he was happy the projects - the eastern coastline (from Aflao to Anloga areas) known as the “Slave Coast” would deservedly find a place on the slave map in the country.
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