Socrate Safo spoke on IShowSpeed’s visit to Ghana
Veteran filmmaker Socrate Safo has said that Ghana missed a major tourism opportunity during popular livestreamer IShowSpeed’s visit by failing to fully connect the tour to the country’s slave trade history and diaspora narrative.
In an interview with GhanaWeb’s Isaac Dadzie on January 27, 2026, Safo said Ghana’s strongest tourism asset is its historical connection to the Black diaspora, particularly through the slave dungeons.
He explained that Ghana, like Egypt, primarily markets history, but Ghana’s history is uniquely tied to the transatlantic slave trade and the Black diaspora.
“What do we have in Ghana if we want to tap into the tourism industry? We have the diaspora connection, that is history. Just like Egypt. Egypt also markets history. Our history is connected with the Black community in the diaspora. And the items are the dungeons. I don’t call them the castles. They were not castles. They were pure dungeons.
“We missed that big icing on the cake. That is the connection to the diaspora. The history of the slave trade,” he stressed.
Five places IShowSpeed planned to visit in Ghana but couldn’t
Safo revealed that he initially believed plans were in place for IShowSpeed to visit the slave dungeons, especially after reports that some days on the itinerary had been adjusted.
“When I realised the trip had to be cut short and we had to move on, for me, it was a big miss,” he noted.
According to him, a visit to the dungeons would have created a deeper emotional and historical connection for the livestreamer’s global audience.
“If we had been able to project that history to him, we would have secured our market,” Safo concluded, describing the omission as the only major flaw in what was otherwise a successful showcase of Ghana.
Despite the setback, IShowSpeed’s visit was seen as a major success in promoting Ghana to the world.
IShowSpeed’s 5-hour stream was featured with massages, a naming ceremony, a jollof rice tasting session, a boxing session and a visit to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and the Shea Butter Museum in Accra.
Check out videos from Speed’s tour of Ghana:
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