The 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. Mahmouh 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 of the Board in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, said: “more information remained 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 whistle blowers Act, 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 have 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 guards peddled information on communities they had no adequate information about.

He said the Tengzug Shrine near Tongo, the Talensi-Nabdam District capital, in the Upper East Region, attracted many tourists, and appealed to tour guards to read wide to enable them to give first hand information on the shrine and area to visitors. Mr Saako appealed to Government to help in preventing encroachment of the land reserved for the building of the Upper East Regional Board office.

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 and the Wa office dealt with monuments. Mr Saako appealed to Government to provide the Board with transportation and logistics to facilitate work . He advised the people to provide information and send strange materials they might find to the Board.