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Eckankar to host Africa’s biggest seminar in Accra

Ghana is to host Africa’s biggest ‘religious tourism’ seminar of about 7,000 members of the Eckankar faith from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas in August this year on the theme “Your life is a spiritual adventure.”

The seminar dubbed ‘Eck African Soul Adventure’ aimed at helping each other to be spiritual, through guidance by the voice of God which comes in the form of light and sound.

The Deputy Minister of Tour­ism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okra­ku Mantey, launched the event in Accra in collaboration with Eckankar Ghana, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), and the Ghana Police Service.

The two-day event would take place on August 25 to 27.

Mr Okraku Mantey launch­ing the programme in Accra on Tuesday, said the seminar was in line with the ministry’s quest to position Ghana as the preferred Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) hub in West Africa.

According to him, the seminar would serve as a revenue gener­ation for the country since the government was poised to make tourism the number one con­tributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

“We believe in religious tourism expecting over 7,000 people from about 32 African countries and over 78 countries in the world all coming together in Ghana between August 25-27. If Ghana is ready and beginning to believe in religious tourism, then Chris­tians must show some degree of interest in the national cathedral conversation,” he added.

Mr Mantey said Ghana like many other African countries was endowed with natural resources coupled with rich culture and numerous tourism potentials which needed to be projected to the world.

He urged that, even though the participants would come as reli­gious tourists, there was the need to project and sell Ghana for them to know the potentials the country had in order to attract more inves­tors into the country.

The minister commended Eck­ankar Ghana for the initiative and promised government’s support in ensuring the programme becomes a success.

“We are not taking this oppor­tunity for granted and so we are going to make sure that all the stakeholders especially those from the government side will work according to plan to make the pro­gramme a success,” he added.

The President of Eckankar Ghana, Mr Aspect Caiquo, said the seminar seeks to bring togeth­er members and non-members to deepen their faith in God, through sharing personal experiences of God’s love, and how this divine love could be passed to all forms of life around them.

He said it was organised every five years across some African countries and it was the turn of Ghana to host this year’s event.

In attendance at the launch were the spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu; Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations, GTA, Mr Ben Anane Nsiah; Chairperson of Govern­ment Inter-Sectoral Committee on the Seminar, Mrs Betty Kobi, representatives from the security services, stakeholders from the tourism industry and other mem­bers of Eckankar Ghana.

 BY VIVIAN ARTHUR

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