Page 48,49 & 50 of the NPP 2016 manifesto could save the Creative Arts Industry – Mr. Nayi

I am pleading with the NPP government to implement page 48,49 & 50 of their 2016 manifesto. It will also help to resolve many of the problems in the northern creative and cultural industries.

However, if you look at NDC 2012 manifesto, all they promised to do in the creative arts industry, they did nothing. And they have repeated the same thing in their 2020 manifesto.

Ibrahim Nayi Issahku

There are a lot of undiscovered tourist sites in Northern Ghana, the likes of the spiritual land where every deceased Yaa Naa goes as their final resting place. What are our Northern politicians doing, when we are making provision in our manifesto, we should factor our interest in as a people, so that we can also benefit from the national cake

Ibrahim Nayi Issahku

The NPP has touted their achievements in the area of creative arts, tourism, and culture in their 3+years in power. Mr. Abdul Karim, the Npp Rep listed their achievements and reference his colleague panel to their manifesto. However, Mr. Nayi Issahaku, an intellectual property consultant disagreed.

Mr. Nayi Issahaku stated that there are other policy bills that previous governments since the 1960s came up with and planned to adopt have been left to dust on the shelves on the copyright administration office.

So comparing the Npp 2016 manifesto to the 2020 manifesto the NPP has not achieved close to 20% of the promise they made in the area of creative arts, tourism, and culture.

Mr. Abdul Karim indicated that interest groups and associations especially in the northern region, who in the creative arts industry need to form a united front and present a policy document that outlines their needs in the creative arts industry.

He also stressed on the need for representation at the parliamentary level, Mr. Abdul Karim tasked the players in the arts industry to elect people who are interested in creative arts to represent them and not fully put the blame on the entire government especially the president.

Mr. Hayi in his rebuttal however said the government needs to take almost more than half of the blame for the decline in the tourism, arts, and culture industry because they are the decision-makers and policy implementors

What has not been discovered as a gold mine in Northern Ghana is Traditional knowledge (TK)? TK is a component of heritage and creative production of human thoughts and craftsmanship, language, cultural expressions, which are created, acquired, and inspired by indigenous people such as songs, dance, stories, ceremonies, symbols and designs, poetry, artwork, scientific agric, technical and ecological knowledge and the skills required to implement this knowledge and technologies.

These are huge potentials that have not been taped for centuries. We must as a matter of agency, consider TK for protection under the conventional Intellectual property system for indigenous societies to benefit economically for their local development.

Ibrahim Nayi Issahku

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