Cultural centre to train youth

Sunyani, March 6, GNA - The Centre for National Culture in Sunyani is to embark on some employment generating and cultural promotion activities this year. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency Mr. Azanab Waksman, the Regional Director, said the centre intended to diversify its pottery industry to include the manufacture of building materials such as bricks. The youth, especially school dropouts, would be trained in batik, tie and dye, kente-weaving, local furniture manufacturing through the use of bamboo.

Mr Waksman said resource persons would be recruited to help facilitate the training of interested youth through the creation of a tourist market that would attract artisans. The centre would organise training sessions for District Chief Executives and chiefs on indigenous cultural norms. In view of the merger of culture and chieftaincy under one ministry, the centre will work in collaboration with the regional house of chiefs to undertake research into chieftaincy succession to avoid chieftaincy disputes in the region.

Mr. Waksman said budgetary constraints that faced the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture last year affected the centre's capacity to employ more qualified staff to man the district centres. The major problem, he said, facing the centre is lack of funds for the completion of the theatre project and to carry out research works. "The theatre project was started some four decades ago in 1963 and up till now it has still not been completed as a result of political instability. It was not until 1999 that the NDC government made funds available for the completion of the administration block", he said. The regional director said the NPP government also presented funds for the roofing but a lot of the work is still undone and expressed the hope that the new government would continue from where it left off in 1999.