Gov't asked to establish institution for screening of films

The Centre for Moral Education (CEMED), a Kumasi based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has appealed to the government to establish an institution to properly screen and censure all films and music works before they were sold.

Mr Opoku Agyemang Prempeh, Executive President of the CEMED, said the CEMED had observed that the absence of such an institution had led to the proliferation of all sorts of pornographic films and indecent or profane musical works on the Ghanaian society. These have now impacted negatively on the morals and attitude of the youth of this generation.

Mr Prempeh made the appeal when he addressed a forum organised by the CEMED for its youth branches within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area, in Kumasi, on Wednesday. It was aim at discussing corruption and the immorality that had engulfed society today, and the role of the CEMED in seeking solution to the canker.

The CEMED believed that even though there were institutions like the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), had some influence on the media, they do not have power to control what the media churns out, hence the need for a separate body to screen films and musical works.

Mr Prempeh stressed that unless government responded promptly all its efforts at bringing about positive change to bear on the lives of Ghanaians might not yield the desired results.

He explained that for any meaningful positive change to take place, especially, in the financial and physical domain of people, it was imperative that the minds and moral aptitude of the people be transformed for the better as a first step.

Mr Prempeh expressed regret that immorality, disrespect for the aged and authority, coupled with the insurgence of criminality, which used to be a taboo and frowned upon by Ghanaians, have now become the order of the day, particularly, amongst the youth.

The CEMED stated that while government had to take the initiative in curbing the crime wave, immorality and corruption in the system, the task should not be left to it alone but that all stakeholders and forward-thinking citizens and organisations owed it a duty to contribute their quota to arrest the trend.