Directors and accountants of the Centres for National Culture (CNC) across the 16 regions have converged in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to review the Centres’ 2022 performances under the auspices of the National Commission on Culture (NCC).
The two-day event, which seeks to take stock of last year’s activities and strategise the way forward, was attended by the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Mr Mark Okraku-Mantey.
As part of the opening ceremony, the Commission unveiled its new logo to replace the coat of arms, which it had used over the years.
The new logo reflects what the Commission stands for and forms part of efforts to reposition it to make it more vibrant.
The redesigned statue of Dr. Alexander Atta Yaw Kyerematen, Founder and First Director of the Centre for National Culture was also unveiled as part of activities for the first day of the meeting.
Mr. Okraku-Mantey underlined the major role culture played in the socio-economic development of Ghana and applauded the CNC for their contribution to national development.
He said culture and tourism were interdependent and stressed the need for the CNC and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to work closely together to promote Ghana’s rich cultural heritage.
He explained the duty of the GTA was to promote and commercialise the content produced by the CNC hence they must not see themselves as being in competition with each other.
The Deputy Minister expressed grave concern about the increasing indiscipline among the youth, especially their disrespect to authority and reminded the CNC the role they could play to reverse the trend.
He said the Commission must show interest in the content produced by film makers and musicians to influence good values in the Ghanaian society.
Ms. Edna Nyame, the Executive Director of the NCC, said the review meeting formed part of the core activities of the Commission in ensuring effective and efficient operations within the CNCs across the country.
She said the meetings provided opportunity to bring together directors of the CNCs closer to the Commission in order to appraise their performances, identify implementation challenges and come out with pragmatic solutions to address them.
She praised all the Directors for the participation in the 60th anniversary of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC), which was held in December last year in Cape Coast.
The Executive Director said the cultural policy was undergoing review and assured the directors that the final copy would be shared with them for their inputs.
Mr. Emmanuel Ansu, the Regional Director of CNC, said culture played pivotal role in the development of every nation, saying that many Asian countries had made quantum leap in development using their culture.
He said the lacklustre approach to culture in our part of the world, however, continued to push us further down the drain.
“Regardless, the central role of culture in the development of our country cannot be overlooked as culture remains one of the major contributors to our Gross Domestic Products (GDP),” he stated.
