MAHAMA’S RUNWAY PROMISE GETS A DATE AS BLACK STAR FASHION WEEK LANDS IN ACCRA AND AKOSOMBO

The Black Star Experience has put a date on the fashion show it has been promising, and the date includes a runway with the president’s name on it.

Coordinator Rex Owusu Marfo, known as Rex Omar, announced the programme on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM on Monday, 5 October 2026. The two-day Black Star Fashion Week splits between Accra and Akosombo. The summit is on 4 November at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel. The Presidential Runway is on 7 November at Royal Senchi.

“Fashion is the biggest in the creative industry in Ghana. So we have created this fashion week. It’s going to happen in two days,” Omar told hosts Doreen Avio and Kwame Dadzie. He said he is not a fashion expert, and that a steering committee of professionals, chaired by Joyce Ababio, is running it. Graphic Online lists the secretariat under Rex Owusu Marfo, with support from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, the Ghana Tourism Authority and the Creative Arts Agency.

The Accra day is the industry meeting. MyJoyOnline reported the summit theme as “Put Ghana On,” meaning wear Ghanaian fashion and make it known outside the country. The Vaultz News, quoting organisers the same day, used a second line, “Sustainable by Design: Shaping Africa’s Fashion Future.” The published programmes do not say which line is the official banner. What both describe is the same room: presentations, exhibitions, masterclasses on business skills, funding and market access, and a 16-region designer strand. Graphic Online said topics will include branding, digital marketing, textile innovation, manufacturing, export readiness, e-commerce, intellectual property and sustainability.

Five emerging designers will be shortlisted. One will show on the Presidential Runway. “We are going to select. We are going to shortlist five of them. But ultimately, one is going to get an opportunity to be on the presidential runway,” organisers told The Vaultz. Registration is listed at blackstarexperience.org, with the designer link still to open.

The Akosombo night is the show, and the tourism pitch. Omar said in September he did not want the Black Star Experience stuck in Accra. Organisers told The Vaultz the aim is that people come for the fashion and stay for the place. A VIP boat party on the Dodi Princess is planned for the Friday. Hiking, quad biking and boat rides are planned for the Saturday morning with the Ghana Tourism Authority. Hotels booked through the secretariat are offering discounts.

The presidential label is the part that will travel. At the Ghana Diaspora Town Hall at Osu Castle Gardens on 20 September, Omar said: “For the first time in the history of Ghana, the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, will be on the runway.” That repeats a pledge Mahama made at the launch of the Black Star Experience on 1 May 2025 at Black Star Square, when he said he would change outfits three times and name the Ghanaian designers. Organisers this week said they expect him to deliver. The presidency has not issued a fresh confirmation of the 7 November appearance.

The Black Star Experience is the government’s year-round culture and tourism programme, launched in May 2025 across music, film, fashion, cuisine, heritage and literature. Omar has said the secretariat had no budget of its own for 2025. A MyJoyOnline column has already called for the brand to be scrapped. The November dates are the first public test of whether the fashion pillar is a calendar or a press line.