Tuesday, November 25, 2008

HELP INCREASE INVESTMENT FLOW AT TAMALE (PAGE 29)

A group of Accra-based musicians has urged media practitioners in the Tamale metropolis to let their reportage portray the positive issues in the metropolis and help increase investment flows into the area.
The musicians, who had visited the metropolis for the first time, made the call during an interaction with this reporter at the Jubilee Park in Tamale where a musical show dubbed: “Believe in Ghana” (BIG) was held for residents of the area.
According to the musicians, most of whom were from a gospel musical group called “No Tribe”, they had been surprised when they roamed the streets of Tamale at night and discovered that the area was well lit with streetlights which beautified the city.
They said that they never believed the metropolis could have beautiful and good roads, which they claimed were far better than those in Accra.
“My brother, living in Accra is like hell. Now that I have found Tamale, I will think of relocating to this place,” they noted.
According to them, when people in the south heard stories about disturbances in the area, it was usually portrayed as if the whole of Tamale “is burning”.
One of the musicians particularly said because he wanted to travel and see things for himself, he decided not to tell his family members where he was going for fear that they might discourage him from going to Tamale.
“In fact, you have a lot of work to do away with the bad image about the place. This is because the perception about the place down south is not good enough,” one of them advised.
They said they were surprised to see that there were Internet cafes located at strategic areas of the central business district of the metropolis.
Indeed, these musicians are not the first people to express misgivings about the negative publicity Tamale has gained over the years.
About a year ago, a group of journalists who went for a workshop in the area also expressed similar sentiments about the bad perception that people had of the area in southern Ghana.
One nagging question bothering residents of Tamale, however, is, how long will this bad perception about Tamale last? But time will certainly tell.

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