'Don’t sit on radio and talk; write to the ministry'

The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Honourable Dzifa Abla Gomashie has asked faultfinders who claim her office has failed to provide the needed support to the Creative Arts Industry, to write to the ministry rather than sit on radio and rumble.

She is of the view that, this act is not proactive enough in getting solutions to problems in the sector.

According to her, the proliferation of radio stations in Ghana makes it difficult for her as deputy minister to articulate the various concerns of individuals and groups who rant on the airwaves.

‘When I was growing up, we had only GTV and Radio Ghana. Now there are many radio stations. So if you are sitting on radio and complaining about what you think we should do, I don’t hear it. I can’t do anything about what I haven’t heard. I cannot sit at home and listen to radio.’

On The Xclusive Chat with Real Eugene segment of The Big X Show on Radio Univers, Hon. Dzifa Gomashie advised critics as well as industry players to channel their concerns directly to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts.

‘You need to make your case to the Ministry. You have a home now. Write to the ministry or come there and seek audience with the minister or deputy minister and put your case across.’

The deputy minister, who is also the Queen Mother of the Afloa Traditional area, added that, individuals in the Creative Arts industry who make their concerns known to her only by word of mouth should not expect to get their problems resolved just because she granted them audience. But rather, they should present an official document to the ministry that will still hold even after the current officeholders are out of office.

‘This is not a job you have forever. The few people who I meet who mention something to me feel once they’ve told me, immediately I can do something about it. It doesn’t work like that. Tomorrow morning I may wake up and I am not the deputy minister anymore.’

The former host of the popular story telling program, ‘By the Fire Side’, stated that her ministry is new and thus, it wrong to compare it to other ministries that have been existing for long such as the Sports Ministry and the Ministry of Employment.

Responding to the call by some industry players for a presidential debate on Creative Arts and its neglect over a long period, the deputy minister expressed the readiness of her side and that of the President for such a discourse.

‘Hallelujah! Let them bring it on. We have only one President so I think I can speak for him. So let them bring it on.’