The Edina Traditional Council in the Komenda Edina-Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central Region has threatened to ban visitors from Elmina Castle if the Minister of Tourism does not pay outstanding royalties.

The Council says the Ministry has refused to address its demands and warned that traditional rites could be performed to disrupt tourist activities at the site.

The Traditional Council explained that Elmina Castle stands on land belonging to the Edina Traditional Area.

It said the Ministry of Tourism, through the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (which manages all castles in the country), has failed to pay the 20% share of proceeds owed to the traditional area since 2009, as required by law.

Addressing the gathering, Paramount Chief of the Edina Traditional Council, His Royal Majesty Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, recalled that during former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s administration the then Minister for Tourism, the late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, released some funds to the Traditional Council after repeated appeals.

However, Nana Conduah said, since the administration of former President John Evans Atta Mills resumed power, the 20% royalties mandated by law were cancelled and no payments have been made by subsequent governments.

He said the funds received during President Kufuor’s tenure were used to enrol needy but brilliant students from the traditional area and to support other important community projects.

"I am calling on the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abla Dzifa Gomashie, to address our concerns, or we will be compelled to carry out our threat by performing traditional rituals and invoking the gods of Elmina land against the operations of Elmina Castle in the coming days," Nana Conduah VI declared.