Former Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare, has denied claims by President of the Creative Arts Council, Mark Okraku Mantey, that the erstwhile John Mahama administration left no notes on the sector during the 2017 transition.
The Creative Arts Council boss, who was speaking during an event at the Accra Tourist Information Centre, said workers of the Ministry had informed him that, zero investment was made when the Creative Arts sector was added to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
But, speaking on Hitz News @ 1 on Thursday, Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare urged the Creative Arts Council boss to stop the blame game and get serious.
This, according to her, is because there is a lot of work to be done.
“He should stop the blame game and work. Ghana needs money, the Creative Arts industry needs money so if you just sit there and say they didn’t leave any money for us, there is no money in our coffers, what is that?
“He should get serious please, and please let Okraku Mantey know there is a lot of work to be done which he hasn’t done.
“For him to say he is President of the Creative Arts, he should make sure that the law is passed otherwise he is president over nothing,” she said.
While listing some achievements by her office, the former Minister said they drafted the Creative Arts Bill which was ready for Cabinet but lost power in 2016.
She added that they also ensured the passage of the Film Law which would include a fund.
Madam Agyare revealed that the Creative Arts industry was given GH¢1 million to work with, making allegations that investment was not made in the sector false.
“The Creative Arts industry was given GH¢1 million and Okraku Mantey can speak to that as well, and so if you say we did not make any investment in the Creative Arts industry what does he mean?
“Every year we took money from the Tourism Development Fund, so we could have given them another GH¢1 million if we hadn’t lost power in 2016,” she said.
Rating the works of the New Patriotic Party, she said the government has not paid attention to the Creative Arts sector and did not continue from where they left off.
She advised Ghanaians, especially the Creative Arts stakeholders to re-elect former President John Dramani Mahama to continue his good works.
