The Executive Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation, Japhet Aryiku, has set the records straight on claims that the government has sold the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre to the foundation for 50 years.

Mr. Aryiku has said the government has not sold or leased the facility as speculated.

“There have been allegations that the government has sold the place to us, the Du-Bois Foundation, but that is not true. There are also allegations that the place has been leased to the Bu-Bois Foundation, but that is also not true,” he said on Accra-based Citi FM.

This follows criticism by Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that government has transferred control of the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre to a newly incorporated private foundation.

Mr Ablakwa stated that the newly formed entity, named the W.E.B. Du Bois Museum Foundation Ghana LBG, lacks a proven track record but has been granted a 50-year mandate to oversee and manage the Du Bois Centre.

He expressed concern that this agreement, signed on September 22, 2023, by the Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, gives the foundation significant authority over the centre.

But Mr Aryiku has explained that the arrangement in question is a collaborative partnership between the Du Bois Museum Foundation and the Ministry of Tourism.

He noted that the partnership is to secure funding, develop, operate, and manage the Du Bois Centre, set for an initial term of 30 years.

“The agreement that we signed with the Ghana government is that the Du Bois Museum Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism will raise the money, develop the place, operate and manage the place for a period of 50 years. That 50 years is broken up into thirty and twenty.

“That is, we will be there for the first thirty years under the agreement. At the end of the thirty years…we will meet with the then minister, whoever is in charge and assess our relationship. If we are happy with each other, if the Du Bois Foundation feels that the government of Ghana has treated us well and if the government of Ghana feels that we have managed the place well, then we continue with the next twenty years,” he noted.

Mr Aryiku added that “The reason why we want to be there for a longer time is because the place has deteriorated. We don’t believe that the Ghana government or its agencies have the knowledge or the excitement about the life or works of Du Bois to care most about the place,” he stated.

“Now to this very important clause in the agreement. If we are not happy and cannot continue with the relationship, the Bu-Bios Foundation will walk away from the $50-80 million that we would have spent at the centre. There is no provision that states that the government has to pay back anything, we will walk away and leave the management, and the operation back to the Ghana government,” he stated.