It has taken me about five months to write this article.Anytime I wanted to pen down these thoughts, an inner voice told me, “Take your time. Give them some time to prove you wrong.”So why am I writing now? I am dreading wasting so much time only to be proven right in the end. I don’t want the government to waste resources pretending to execute a task whose focus has seemingly changed.Honestly, when the National Democratic Congress sold the Black Star Experience idea to us during their 2024 campaign season, I was happy about it. I saw an initiative that held the prospect of positioning Ghana in a different light.However, the lull in its activities and responsiveness clearly shows there is a high possibility that the NDC will finish its four-year tenure without making any impact with the Black Star Experience.In tandem with this, I have written an open letter to President John Dramani Mahama. Take a read:Dear Mr President,A few days ago, I wrote a piece on my Facebook page that I was tempted to believe that it’s either the NDC did not have a clear concept for the Black Star Experience, or plans changed along the way. I would like to reiterate my concerns here and expatiate on them.In your 2024 manifesto, you told us what the Black Star Experience was about. You said you would “create and promote ‘The Black Star Experience’ as Ghana’s flagship Culture, Arts, and Tourism brand to redefine and affirm our Ghanaian identity, attract investments, create new jobs, and increase tourism.” You said the Black Star Experience would undertake a year-round celebration in all the major entertainment, artistic, and educational disciplines. We were told it would be decentralised too.Then there was the launch on 1st May 2025 at the Black Star Monument, and the Coordinator, Rex Omar, outlined a list of things that would be done under that umbrella. Mr President, you even promised to hit the runway at a fashion show that was never held.At the launch, you described the Black Star Experience as “a 365-day celebration of Ghanaian ingenuity and excellence”, saying the creative energy of Ghanaians would radiate daily from every region and community.Rex Omar told us that the overarching vision of the Black Star Experience Secretariat would be to align Ghana’s brand reputation with the 20 most esteemed countries or country brands worldwide.He also said his Secretariat would “incorporate the Black Star Experience framework into all facets of the nation’s initiatives across multiple sectors, elevate Ghana’s image as a pre-eminent and a preferred destination for global travellers, and transform Ghana into Africa’s cultural capital.”He mentioned that there would be exhibitions of football matches between legends of international football clubs and legends of the national football team, the establishment of a multi-million-dollar film studio called Ananse Studio, Ghana Music Week celebration, an annual stakeholder meeting dubbed Creative Connect, among others.Mr President, more than a year after the launch, much has not been done for us to feel the experience. The signals I am picking are ominous. We are not saying you should achieve all your objectives by now, but at least we need to see some solid foundation laid beyond the launch and rhetoric. When we spoke to Rex in January on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, he didn’t have a budget to run the Secretariat, a reason they were not visible with their activities in the first half of the year. We are eight months into 2026 and the story is no different.Gradually, what was introduced to us as the Black Star Experience has now become a mere nomenclature for things that already happen in the tourism, culture and creative arts space.The NDC did not tell us it was simply going to find a name for projects the agencies were already undertaking. It rather said it would curate compelling experiences to propel the engines of the three branches of the sector and beyond.Speaking in Accra on 4th June 2025, during a courtesy visit by the Tour Operators Union of Ghana, Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Minister Abla Dzifa Gomashie said something profound. She said, “the Black Star Experience should be an immersive cultural package that invites tourists into the Ghanaian way of life. But we must brand it intentionally.” The intentionality is what is missing.We can’t have a Black Star Experience brand yet fail to leverage the Black Stars at the World Cup. The silence of this brand during the World Cup speaks volumes about its focus. It showed how unintentional the handlers of the project had been.Brands and marketing professional Jesse Agyepong weighed in on this matter on Showbiz A-Z in June.“From a pure brand experience point of view, I think we should have had a quasi World Cup secretariat for the Black Star Experience, then everybody feeds into it,” he suggested, adding that they could have created a calendar for World Cup activities, a temporary website, among others, to push the agenda.After one year of its inauguration, if the Black Star Experience will be masquerading in the apparel of the 13 agencies of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, then there was no need to create that Secretariat. Because the agencies are already working.I also have an inkling that the Black Star Experience does not have a seamless link with the institutions they are supposed to deal with. Other than that, it is difficult to understand why Rex Omar would pay a visit to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, to embark on the construction of the second National Theatre in Kumasi, just for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie to tell us later that she had advised Cabinet to put a hold on that project for the time being.After industry stakeholders complained about the prosaic Black Star Experience during Joy FM’s 9th Showbiz Roundtable, the Secretariat has announced a Jamaica-partnered event slated for December.In as much as this may seem laudable, it doesn’t solve any problem, really. Because one of the problems the Black Star Experience sought to correct was the over-concentration of activities in December. We were told this initiative would explore other months and take the experience to other parts of the country.Mr President, I don’t doubt your love and dedication for the arts. The recent budgetary allocations for both the Film Fund and the Creative Arts Fund, your portrayal of Ghanaian culture during your travels, are worth commending. In fact, you will always be remembered for merging arts and culture with tourism to create this trinity of a Ministry. That move has added more value to the cultural and creative industries in various ways.However, there is a lot of work to be done and the Black Star Experience is one of them. If it is not working, or there is difficulty in making it work, kindly scrap it, and find another job for Rex Omar.