Government committed to revamping Cultural Centres

The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Barbara Oteng- Gyasi, has stated that government is committed to revamping the various Regional Cultural Centres Countrywide.

She said government recognised the significant contribution of the sector and, therefore, all quest must be made by the relevant stakeholders to boost the economic fortunes in the Arts and Culture sector.

The Minister further hinted that government was also strategically adopting the development paradigm of the Asian Tigers like Japan, Malaysia, South Korean by incorporating their cultural values, and traditions in their development process.

A news release issued to the Ghana News Agency said the Minister made the remarks at National Conference of Regional Directors and Accountants of Centre for National Culture (CNC), in Tamale.

The conference was on the theme: “Mainstreaming culture in Ghana’s socio-economic development agenda, the role of stakeholders.”

She said the theme was appropriate considering that it advocated national integration of Ghana’s culture in the country’s development agenda.

Mrs Oteng-Gyasi bemoaned that Ghana's culture was at the crossroad, given the Euro-Christian and Arabic influences in the country, saying rich culture and its traditions were fast eroding.

She urged, all and sundry to eschew negative foreign influences that tended to retard the overall improvement of Ghana's culture as Ghana's tourism sector and its cultural artefacts have the great potentials to turn the economic fortunes of the country.

She also encouraged players in the tourism industry to focus their attention on promoting and enhancing the rich Ghanaian cultural heritage.

The Minister used the opportunity to commend the CNC for organising such a laudable event, aimed at improving on the delivery of the CNC’s mandates.

Mrs. Janet Edna Nyame, Executive Director, CNC, indicated that the called to mainstream Ghana’s culture within the Socio-economic context of Ghana's development was a noble one, since culture permeated all facets of Ghanaian economy.

She appealed to government to consider elevating her outfit to an autonomous institution to help the commission to appropriately deliver on its core mandate.

Mrs. Carl Oparebea, Dean of CNC, Directors and Accountants Conference, appealed to the government to give a facelift to all the regional theatres in the country.

Mr. Akunu Dake, Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Development and Patron, Ghana Culture Forum, also urged players in the Culture and Arts industry to come out with a strategic cultural policy that would outline its timelines on implementation.