I began to appreciate archaeology when I became Chairman of the Governing Board of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. Until then, like many Ghanaians, I had never fully considered its enormous economic and national value.

During my tenure, I discovered that foreign researchers and institutions regularly came to Ghana to excavate artefacts and other historically significant materials, many of which eventually left the country for research, preservation and exhibition abroad. My own research also revealed that the United Kingdom's archaeology industry is worth around £300 million annually. That was a revelation. It demonstrated that archaeology is not merely an academic pursuit but an industry capable of creating jobs, businesses, research opportunities and tourism revenue.

For that reason, under my chairmanship, the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board developed plans to complete policy guidelines by mid-2021 to introduce Commercial Archaeology in Ghana. The objective was to create a regulated framework that would allow licensed individuals and private companies to undertake archaeological and heritage-related excavations responsibly.

The policy would also have encouraged the establishment of Heritage Impact Assessment firms to support infrastructure development, mining, real estate and other major projects while ensuring that Ghana's historical and cultural assets were properly identified, documented and protected before development commenced.

Beyond preserving our heritage, the broader vision was to mainstream archaeology as a viable and lucrative profession in Ghana. It was also my way of demonstrating that archaeology is not the "useless course" many people believe it to be. With the right policies and commercial framework, it can support education, tourism, scientific research and private enterprise while helping to preserve our nation's history.

Unfortunately, I was unable to see the initiative through. Let us say I failed, but that is a story for another day.

The important point, however, is that the idea is still relevant. Ghana continues to lose opportunities to build an industry around its own history. Commercial archaeology remains an idea whose time can still come, if only we have the vision to make it happen.