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In November, 2011, Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor presented Ghana’s 2012 budget, which for the first time ever included funding for the development of the creative arts industry, a GH¢2 million provision.
While the move was applauded by several personalities in the creative industry, bitter rows erupted between different fields of the creative industry after it came to light that the money had solely gone to benefit the music industry.
The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) argued that they received the GH¢2 million in response to a proposal that they presented to the government and that they had done nothing wrong, but this explanation did not sit well with movie industry figures who also felt entitled to a share of the public funds.
To avoid a repeat of this conflict, the government has said it will increase the creative industries allocation in the 2013 budget to address the needs of all the creative sectors.
President John Mahama, speaking Monday night at a meeting with creative industry personalities at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi, expressed his readiness to assist the creative industry in overcoming the difficulties facing it.
The meeting was attended by several well-known persons in the music and movie fields including Ghana Actors Guild President Nii Odoi Mensah, MUSIGA administrator Ahuma Bosco Ocansey, and actors, Fred Amugi, Mercy Aseidu and David Dontoh.
The President said while he understands the pain, toil and investments that practitioners go through to produce their works, it will be their responsibility “to show us what innovative ways we can use to protect our works. I will be an open ear to you any innovative new ways you can with we will explore it.”
He called for education in the industry and explained that the “budgetary thing that we put there, we put a little money aside to assist the industry. It is true that one group was the main advocate for it but eventually the thought was that it will serve the whole [industry].”
Mahama asked creative industry members to put the 2012 controversy behind them and move forward with the newly announced funding increase.
“I am just assuring that we are going make another budgetary allocation more than the amount [that was given] and you have to collectively come out with a blue print for investing it in the best way that will serve our purpose,” he said.
The President of the Ghana Actors Guild, speaking on behalf of the group, expressed anxieties about past and present administrations’ apparent neglect of the creative industries, adding that this neglect is quickly killing them.
Nii Odoi Mensah said it is about time that the government realized the importance of the industry and the jobs that it can create so that it would pledge investments and alleviate the industries’ financial burdens.
He explained that, “one film that is produced in Ghana can give employment to over 200 people, this is a special appeal to you, we are not comparing our self to other event organizers in Ghana but I can say that the way you put money into football, if we invest the same money into the film industry or the creative industry, you will get more than football, I can promise you that.”
“We don’t want to be played as second fiddles any more, we want you to use your good office and make sure that you change this disease that is affecting the creative industry,” he added.
SOURCE : MYJOYONLINE.COM
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