Museums and Monuments Board appeals for help

The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board on Tuesday appealed to Government to provide the Board with logistics and resources to enable it to properly manage the country’s museums and monuments.

Mr. Mahmoud Malik Saako, Upper East Regional Director of the Board who made the call, said the body needed funds to undertake research to enable it to provide more information and documentation on the country’s history and relevant institutions.

The Regional Director in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, said: “More information remain untapped in the fields and communities, but the staff are constrained due to the lack of resources.”

Mr Saako, who is an archeologist, stressed the need for the Board to intensify research to ensure the collection and dissemination of contemporary and historical facts about the country.

He noted that “with plans to introduce the Right to Information law, it is imperative that information, both current and past, should be made readily available to members of the public”, to compel all Government agencies and departments to play their respective roles effectively.

Mr Saako said research findings will help Ghanaians to appreciate objects in their communities and what they had in terms of history and where they came from. He said the Board needed funds to enable it to organise exhibitions and educational talks in schools and the general public on the country’s culture.

Mr Saako expressed worry that self-styled and untrained tour guides disseminated information on communities they had no adequate knowledge about.

He said the Tengzug Shrine near Tongo in the Talensi-Nabdam District of the Upper East Region, attracted many tourists, and appealed to tour guides to read wide to enable them to give first hand information on the shrine and other areas of interest to visitors.

Mr Saako appealed to Government to help prevent any encroachment on the land reserved for the building of the Upper East Regional office of the Board.

He said the Upper East and Upper West Regional offices of the Board used the same buildings, and explained that the Bolgatanga office handled museums whiles the Wa office dealt with issues pertaining to monuments.

Mr Saako appealed to Government to provide the Board with transportation and logistics to facilitate its work .

He advised the people to provide information and send strange materials they might find in their communities to the Board.