Ghanaian entertainment entrepreneur and politician Baba Sadiq is against government claiming the sole credit for the success of the “Year of Return” initiative in 2019.
In an interview with Accra-based TV3, Baba Sadiq argued that the private sector was already organizing events in December which formed part of the Year of Return.
He said the private sector through its effort was already promoting ‘December in Ghana’ and the ‘Year of Return’ was only a tag by government.
Sadiq emphasised that the “Year of Return” initiative in 2019 was initially intended to be a PANAFEST to encourage the Black diaspora to visit Ghana during their summer break which was in July through to September to mark the 400th anniversary of the return of slaves to Africa.
However, he said the concept only became more popular during the December celebrations, which have historically been an active period for entertainment in Ghana.
“The ‘Year of Return’ was essentially mainly branding. Every December, the ‘December in Ghana’ component had always existed.
“In 2019, when they launched the ‘Year of Return’, it was supposed to be almost something like a PANAFEST idea where to mark the 400 years of the return of slaves to Africa. And so you have created this idea to sort of encourage the black diaspora to come back home. Not in December, but around the period when they are usually on break, which is July, August, and September. that’s a summer period. That’s when they are usually on break. And so the idea was to encourage them to come back to the country. But guess what? That idea didn’t quite pick up,” he said.
“Then in December of that year, the entertainment companies, which has always existed as much as we know it, including some of the activities that have always existed for as much as we know it, but then they pick it up and they tag it and say, it’s the year of return,” he explained.
He insisted that the private sector had a role in organizing events and activities during December, which contributed to the success of the “Year of Return.”
