Tamale, Nov. 25, GNA - Nii Armah Ashietey, Greater Accra
Regional Minister, has expressed worry over the continuous
subordination of Ghana's culture in favour of foreign ones. He has therefore called for the reversal of the situation to
promote the country's arts, craft, music and dancing industries.
"It is rather sad to observe that while others have improved upon
their cultures. we have virtually subordinated ours to foreign
cultures." Mr Ashietey was addressing the Regional Day's of the 2010
National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) in Tamale on
Wednesday, which saw the Greater Accra and the Western
Regional cultural groups performing to showcase their culture and
traditions. The weeklong festival, which brought together all cultural
groups across the country, is being celebrated this year under the
theme: "NAFAC-Promoting unity, technology and wealth creation
for a better Ghana: the role of the youth in nation building". The festival, which is a biannual event, had since attracted
chiefs and traditional leaders from the various ethnic groups as
well as cultural groups across the country to showcase their rich
cultural heritage to the delight of the teaming audience. Mr Ashietey urged the youth and traditional authorities to give
greater attention to Ghana's cultural heritage to attract investors
and generate employment for the teaming youths. "I urge our traditional institutions and other allied institutions to
inject some form of dynamism into our culture and arts to reflect
modern trends", the Minister said adding that our craftsmen and
women must pay attention to the finishing and packaging of their
products to enable them to compete on the international markets. He also expressed the concern that the tourism industry had
done little to promote our local dishes in our hotels and
restaurants, adding that introduction of technology to improve the
processing of our local food must be considered. Madam Betty Busumtwi-Sam, the Deputy Western Regional
Minister said the region is the third largest in the country and
comprises five major ethnic groups who are all of the same
linguistic stock. She said the region owed the key to Ghana's development in
view of its substantial natural endowments producing not less than
55 percent of the GDP for the country. Madam Busumtwi-Sam said the region had recently discovered
a new tourist site at Beyin in the Jomoro District where one could
find the rehabilitated Fort Apollonia and the Nzulezu eco-site
where all daily human activities take place on a lagoon. The NAFAC 2010 was official opened in Tamale on Saturday
20th of this Month and had since witnessed several performances
including the Northern, Brong Ahafo, Central and Upper East
Regions, football and traditional games, highlight music
competition, Diaspora exhibition a colloquium and exhibition by
some department and agencies of the government.
