Kojo Yankson, the host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, claims that these restrictions are now impeding the expansion of the travel and tourist industry.
He gave the example of his visit to Princess Town, where it was forbidden for women and first- or second-born sons to go near the river that housed their deity.
“You go to Princess Town in the Western Region and there is this village where the fetish priest calls the crocodiles out of the water. This woman will give you a hundred rules before she takes you to the water. If you’re a woman, if it is your time of the month, or if you’re a man who is a first or second-born, you won’t qualify. They give you so many reasons they won’t take your money.
“But if everyone was allowed, they would make a fortune. There is a great story about the deity of the river that people will happily cart their children from school to experience it. However, due to the rules, we have to check if none of the children are first and second borns,” he said on Monday.
Mr. Yankson pointed out that Princess Town is not the only oddity in the situation.
He described a situation in the Volta Region when he was required to remove his clothes before visiting an interesting tourist attraction.
“We carried cameras and drove 100 of kilometers to the Volta Region. Travelled by boat, got to the island and travelled on a motorcycle deep into some mangroves just because we wanted to go and see a place we’ve been told about, where there are only male goats, yet they reproduce.
“When we got there, we were told we have to strip naked and perform some rituals before we can go and look at it. So after that long journey, we couldn’t take any camera shots. So we have these amazing things here in Ghana that we could make a fortune from.”
