By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Wife of the Vice President, Hajia Samira Bawumia, has inaugurated a Museum at Bonwire in the Ashanti region meant for the preservation and projection of one of Ghana’s most cherished traditional woven cloths, Kente, to attract local and foreign tourists.
The facility is the latest addition to Ghana’s tourism attraction and is to be managed by a seven-member management team.
The origin of the famous adorable Kente cloth is traced to an ancient Asante town of Bonwire located in the Ejisu Municipality.
Two brothers of the town, Kuragu and Ameyaw, both farmers, are credited as being the first to have woven it in the 17th century after closely studying how the spider or Ananse, in the Twi dialect, wove its web, having studied the art during one of their hunting expeditions.
Today, the Kente cloth’s recognition and appreciation transcends the borders of Ghana receiving appreciable patronage as one of the most sumptuous fabric and adorned mostly by the elite for important occasions, cutting across formal, traditional and religious events.
The Museum at Bonwire is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, taking two years for completion, to preserve and project Kente as a worthy tourists attraction to add to boost the sector.
It is co-located with the Bonwire Kente Village which has been in place for many years now serving as the hub for the weaving and sales of the kente cloth.
The Kente Museum has its outside designed in various Adinkra symbols which have also become the dominant designs in modern kente cloths.
The facility has also a reception, audio-visual room, exhibition hall among others.
Internals of the Museum has been stocked and decorated with the historical designs of Kente with their respective unique names as well as prominent national and international personalities adorned with the cloth.
Wife of the Vice President, Hajia Samira Bawumia, disclosed that the Museum forms part of government’s agenda to preserve Ghana’s cultural heritage and projecting tourism as a viable revenue earner for the economy.
She said completion of the facility, which sod was cut by her husband, the Vice President two years ago, is a testament of the ruling Party’s commitment to promoting tourism as a major contributor to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, as well as preserving the country’s cultural heritage.
Hajia Bawumia noted, that even though Kente could be bought anywhere in Ghana including the national capital, Accra, the pieces procured at Bonwire come with a certain high prestige that makes every one yearn for, hence her applause for the Kente Museum.
The Chief of Bonwire, Nana Bobie Ansah 11, described the Kente Museum as a testament of the rich history of the chiefs and people of Bonwire and urged the Ministry of Education to include Kente weaving in the curriculum of TVET.
Nana Bobbie Ansah appealed to government to help establish a factory at Bonwire for the production of the yarns and raw materials for Kente weaving since such items are sometimes difficult to come by.The Chief Executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyemang, noted that, the Bonwire Kente Museum is part of bigger national development programme to position tourism as the number one income earner to increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
The Museum, Mr. Agyemang noted, is the nerve of what has been termed as Club Circuit Village Project to promote craft and weaving within the neighbourhood adding that, contract has been awarded for renovation of the Nana Yaa Asantewaa Museum at Ejisu.
The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Mark Okraku Mantey, noted that, government is deliberately promoting the Kente cloth as a national symbol after the national flag at the international level to boost tourism.
Some members of the Management Board for the Museum were inducted.
They are the Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority, representing the GTA, a representative each of the traditional authority and the Kente weavers.
The local Kente Weavers Association out doored and gifted a newly designed Kente Cloth christened ‘Lady Samira Bawumia’ to wife the Vice President.
Two other persons, Afua Asantewaa Aduonum and Serwaa Amihere, who are Tourism Ambassadors, were also presented with different designs of the Kente Cloth in appreciation of their contributions towards the promotion of the cloth.