Veteran broadcaster and executive member of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Daddy ‘Ahuma Ocansey’ Bosco, has admonished creatives who have been appointed to various government positions not to lose touch with industry stakeholders.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z on May 3, 2025, he emphasized the importance of maintaining constant interaction with the creative industry community. He believes this will go a long way in helping their work.
“I am saying this to our guys who have been put in leadership positions. They need to have quarterly engagements because their four-year tenure will end sooner than expected,” he told the host, Kwame Dadzie.
Daddy Bosco made this remark while discussing some of the mistakes Mark Okraku-Mantey, the former Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Creative Arts, made during his tenure.
While acknowledging that Mark may have been constrained by the bureaucracy and protocols of governance, he pointed out that he failed to bring the creative arts industry people closer to him.
“Some of the things I told him but he forgot were that, even when he was President of the Creative Arts Council, he should have had quarterly engagements with the people,” he said.
“You see, human beings… sometimes if I am telling you something and you are not even acting on it but I think you are listening to me, it is a different vibe. And having the opportunity here, I will say it in his face that, brother, that is where you dropped the ball. Because you were one of us. It was easy for you to bring us along, even just calling us quarterly at ATIC and sitting down and talking. That alone would have changed a lot of things,” he added.
In the meantime, President John Dramani Mahama has announced that there will be periodic meetings with people in the tourism, culture, and creative arts sectors to assess their progress.
During the launch of the Blackstar Experience on May 1, 2025, Rex Owusu Marfo, the Coordinator of the project, revealed that one of their programs will be Creative Connect, which will periodically gather people in the cultural and creative industries for progressive conversations.