ALLOCATE RESOURCES TO DEVELOP ARTS AND CULTURE (PAGE 31)

THE Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth, Culture and Sports, Mr Isaac K. Asiamah, has advocated the allocation of adequate resources to develop the arts and culture in the country.
That, he said, would help Ghanaians to appreciate their cultural and traditional values and encourage them to patronise locally-manufactured products.
At a workshop for members of the committee in Koforidua last Saturday, Mr Asiamah stated that “the promotion of culture the world over has remained the basis for harnessing every nation’s human and material resources”.
“To psych up the minds of our people for national patriotism and development, we need to give priority to the arts and culture to appreciate our cultural heritage and values such as honesty, truthfulness, unity, peace, respect for the elderly and the promotion of democratic governance,” Mr Asiamah stated.
The workshop, which was aimed at sensitising the MPs to the new cultural policy and the activities of the Cultural Initiative Support Programme (CISP) to make them more resourceful to advocate cultural issues in Parliament, was organised by the CISP.
The Parliamentary Select Committee chairman said globally nations that had aspired to develop their human and material resources had always paid the necessary attention to the development of such cultural heritage and values.
That, according to him, had helped to encourage their nationals to develop a keen interest in their culture, as well as imbibe cultural values such as patronising locally manufactured products, adopting positive attitudes towards the environment, self-reliance, family and community solidarity, as well as stability and peace.
Mr Asiamah, who is also the MP for Atwima-Mponua in the Ashanti Region, said to give practical meaning to cultural development in all sectors of the economy, ministries, departments and agencies, as well as educational institutions, should dedicate a percentage of their budgets to the cultural component of their programmes.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, said since culture remained an engine for economic development and poverty reduction at all levels of national development, the European Union had provided a two million euros grant to support cultural activities, mainly in the areas of manpower development, cultural agreement, research and support to artistic groups and programmes.
He added that as part of efforts to enhance cultural activities in the country, GH¢200,000 had been made available to support proposals from the cultural sector.
For his part, the Chairman of the National Commission on Culture, Professor George Hagan, stated that his outfit, in collaboration with other relevant institutions, had been organising workshops to seek inputs from stakeholders on how best to develop the cultural sector.
The Project Co-ordinator of the CISP, Mr Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, said his outfit would be providing financial support for stakeholders for the next three years, adding, “The grants will also be applied in the training of cultural administrators, performers and technicians and organising stakeholders’ consultations.”
He added that plans were far advanced to create a meaningful database on the country’s cultural assets to help make culture more relevant to the economy.