WORKSHOP ON CULTURAL POLICY ENDS (PAGE 44, MARCH 18, 2010)

STAKEHOLDERS and experts in the cultural sector have met to deliberate on the challenges in the implementation of the cultural policy of Ghana.
The one-day workshop, organised by Ma'at Productions Incorporated in collaboration with the National Commission on Culture (NCC), was to explore and discover ways in which the institutions of culture could be transformed into an instrument for mobilisation and propagation of national cultural values.
The institutions include Ghana Museums and Monuments Board; Association of music, drama and film; Heritage development; and Cultural and Initiative Support Programme, as well as professors from various academic institutions.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ma'at Production Inc, Dr Mohammed Ben Abdallah, said the country had spent about 40 years to articulate a comprehensive National Cultural Policy whose implementation had been handicapped by serious inconsistencies and apparent lack of commitment.
"The truth is that the attainment of our national development objectives in all facets of our lives continue to elude us," he noted.
He said the purpose of the workshop was to create a forum for a serious dialogue among stakeholders and experts aimed at finally imbedding cultural issues at the core aspects of national development efforts.
Dr Abdallah said Ghanaians must change their attitudes towards issues of national development by looking at the cultural underpinnings of the country.
He said Ghanaians would claim ownership and commit themselves to dynamic and sustained action towards national development, if strategies developed took into account the cultural attitudes of the people.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Alex Asum-Ahensah, said it was important that the cultural policy was reviewed to define the priorities of the cultural sector and stipulated actions to achieve its goals.
He said the workshop marked a milestone in the country's journey to re-examine the challenges and opportunities for development in the light of its cultural policy.
Mr Asum-Ahensah called for collaboration among stakeholders to support the cultural sector as a foundation upon which to build the government’s "Better Ghana" agenda.
The President of the National House of Chiefs, Naa Prof. John Nabilla, said culture played a significant role in the country's health sector and if its policies were properly implemented could help in the development of the health sector.
He said the workshop was expected to raise various issues that would help to promote the implementation of the cultural policy.
The Programmes Co-ordinator of Cultural Initiative Support Programme (CISP), Mr Kwesi Gyan-Apenteng, said the agency was a result of a two-million euro grant given to Ghana by the European Union (EU) to support the cultural sector in the country.
He said what would happen to the EU grant for the cultural sector would depend on the moves the government made in the next few months.
He, therefore, called on the government to set the wheels running for the implementation of the cultural policy.