The Chief Executive of the Brand Ghana Office, Mr. Mathias Akotia, has charged the media to show their abiding faith in the country by taking an active role in managing the country’s brand.

He said the survival of the nation depended heavily on its image which he regretted had not been deliberately and properly managed since its birth.

Mr. Akotia was speaking to media editors in Brand Ghana’s exquisitely designed offices in the plush Office of the President Annex at Ridge, Accra.

He expressed deep concern about the state of the nation in terms of its brand and stressed the urgent need for robust steps to be taken to change the image of the country.

“Ghana’s identity, what Ghana truly is and really stands for and where she is going, was espoused at independence. From multi-cultural societies, Ghana was born to aspire to become a truly democratic, prosperous and a united nation founded on freedom and social justice. Overtime however, Ghana’s evolution towards enacting her espoused identity and achieving her vision has been constrained,” he stated.

“Shared values unite a nation through spawning citizenship mindedness and behaviours.  For a nation being formed from multicultural people, the need for shared values to unite and mobilise the nation could not be any more important. However, patently absent in Ghana’s evolution is a purposeful citizenship programme to consciously affect our lives with our shared values to engender active citizenship,” he added.

He expressed regret that “In the absence of nationally espoused and enacted cultural guide framework, people have tended to adopt others such as family, clan, home-town, ethnic and political party reference” which breed divisiveness.

Emphasizing the importance of branding the nation and the need for a concerted effort to achieve this, the Brand Ghana CEO said, “In an evolving global order, sustainable success belongs to the nations that consistently craft, design, deliver and communicate superior sustainable solutions.”

Ghana, as a nation, he insisted, must “consciously inspire her citizenry to a pro-Ghana mindset and behaviours. And, it is only Ghana that can tell her own story consciously to the rest of the world, for attention and attraction of desirable commercial and cultural engagements.”

All Ghanaians, but especially journalists, must be Ghana brand ambassadors, in deed and in words, he said.

He said even though Africa was largely viewed in a negative light, Ghana could and should be the bright spot on the continent.

Mr. Akotia catalogued elaborate plans to change the world’s view about Ghana.

He, however, maintained that the work of the Brand Ghana Office was greatly hampered by financial constraints.

For instance, out of the 2013 budget proposal of GH¢9,512,000.00 for goods and services and programme support submitted by the office, a meagre GH¢145,000 was allocated to the office by government.

The situation is no different in the 2014 budget proposal from the office.

Out of GH¢9,580,100 proposed, only GH¢210,000 has been allocated by government.

Even though he is optimistic that the financial drought confronting the office can be overcome, he said government must show some more commitment to the agenda of branding the country.