CULTURE – TRANSLATING “VALUES” INTO ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
Yaw Owusu-Frempong
I attended the 9TH Ghana Culture Day Symposium organized by the Ghana Culture Forum and held at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT on March 12, 2020. I was invited to this event through a phone message sent to me by my friend, Nii Kwate Owoo, the Producer of “You Hide Me”, an 18- minute documentary film, showing African sculptural artifacts, stolen during the colonial era and still hidden in a London Museum. The event was moderated by Akunu Dake, Patron, GCF and the Omanhene of Essikado, Nana Kobina Nketsia V was the Guest Speaker. The panelists were Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, CEO, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, and Prof. Kodzo Gavua, University of Ghana, Legon,
Culture
Before attending the symposium, I tried to refreshen my memory about culture and asked myself the following questions: Is culture a tangible phenomenon. Can you touch culture? Can you smell culture? Can you eat culture? Can you feel culture? And how can we translate culture into economic opportunities? First, I looked at different meanings, definitions and interpretations of the word “culture”. The Center for Advance Research and Language Acquisition defines culture as” shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization and passed on, from one generation to another”. Thus, it can be seen as growth of group identity. To me, culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from, religion, language, social habits, cuisine, clothing, proverbs, clothing, painting, music, and the arts. Culture gives us a connection to our beliefs, customs and social values, which include: Honesty, Work ethic, Creativity, Innovation, Aesthetics, Hospitality, Love and care for our neighbours, irrespective of race or ethnicity, color, Respect for old age and our leaders, Condemnation of violence as a means settling conflict, etc.
African culture
In his opening remarks, as the Guest Speaker, Nana Kobina Nketsia V observed that he was an African first and a Ghanaian second, and emphasized that we must place Africa at the center of our cultural values. Nana’s explanatory rendition was very Afrocentric and reminded me of Afrocentricity, a paradigm that sees Africa as the subject and not an object – a paradigm shift that incorporates the African perspective as part of the new world transformation. According to Molefi Kete Asante in his book, the Afrocentric Idea “is an approach that directs our attention to our language, folktales, root rituals, music, the symbolic boundaries and iconic signposts that guide knowledge about self as African people. Nkrumah our first President also noted in his book, Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology For Decolonization and Development that “the African society has one segment which comprises our traditional way of life (culture); it has a second segment which is filled by the presence of the Islamic tradition in Africa; it has a final segment which represents the infiltration of the Christian tradition and culture of Western Europe into Africa, using colonialism and neo-colonialism as its primary vehicles”. Those who are implementing cultural policies in Africa and Ghana in particular must understand that the principles animating these ideas often compete and generate conflict in the cultural sector. Therefore what is required is a new set of “cultural eyes” that places Africa at the center of our value system.
Cultural objectives
The cultural objectives of Ghana as a nation have been clearly stated in The Directive Principles of State Policy. The 1992 Constitution, Article 39. (1) states that Subject to clause 2 of this article, the State shall take steps to encourage the integration of appropriate customary values into the fabric of national life through formal and informal education and the conscious introduction of cultural dimension to relevant aspects of national planning.
(2) The State shall ensure that appropriate customary and cultural values are adapted and developed as an integral part of the growing needs of the society as a whole, and in particular traditional practices which are injurious to the health and well-being of the person are abolished.
(3) The State shall foster the development of Ghanaian languages and pride in Ghanaian culture.
(4) The State shall endeavor to preserve and protect places of historical interest and artifacts.
Cultural Policy
The cultural policy of Ghana is set “to enhance Ghanaian cultural life, to contribute to the nation’s human development and material progress through heritage preservation, conservation, promotion and the use of traditional modern arts and crafts to create wealth and alleviate poverty” (Ghana Policy, 2004).
Policy and Implementation
Policy may be defined as a purposive course of action followed by an actor or a set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern matter. Major sources of public policy in Ghana include the Constitution, statutes and bills passed by parliament and signed by the president, the Budget and its Appropriation Instrument, Manifesto of political party, statements made from time to time by the Executive and other high ranking public officials. Policy documents come in different forms. Some ministries have produced detailed documents, with programs
and strategies action plans, including targets to be met over a specific timeframe, indicative activities, time frame, unit agency responsible for implementation, collaborating MDAs, etc. Some ministries’ guidelines go to the extent of specifying what background training and experience a staff member must have in order to occupy an administrative position in the organization. Ordinarily, the administrative staff at the top of the organization must understand what policy is, its implementation, its analysis and review.
Policy Review
In March 2010 Dr. Mohammed Benn Abdallah, former Chairman of the National Commission on Culture called for a review of the National Cultural Policy to reflect the dynamism of culture to achieve national development objectives. A critical look at the cultural sector of Ghana shows that the time has come again to introduce policy changes in the cultural sector in order to translate our “values” into economic opportunities. On the occasion of the UNESCO’s 2018 Global Outlook Report presentation on Re-Shaping Cultural Policy which took place on the 5th of September, 2019 in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture (MoTAC), Dr. Ziblim Iddi Barri expressed satisfaction with the work of the committee chaired by Prof. George Panyin Hagan which reviewed the Ghana Cultural Policy. He assured the industry players and Ghanaians that he was encouraged by the Road Map or Methodology submitted by the Committee and added that they would follow the Road Map so the government could deliver on its mandate.
The National Commission on Culture under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC) has the oversight responsibilities to implement the Cultural Policy of Ghana, under PNDC Law 235 of 1990. Policy implementation is what happens after a law has been passed. Cultural policy is necessarily an area which encompasses political, social and economic issues. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, in its current structural arrangement, does not seem to have the creative capacity to translate the values of our culture into economic opportunities. The Ministry is inadequately resourced and the multiple agencies under its supervision are staffed with political technocrats who do not seem to know how to translate our cultural values into economic opportunities. Tourism seems to have dwarfed culture and dominated the substantive focus of the parent ministry – MoTAC, perhaps due to its tangible contribution to GDP, via tourism statistics. Thanks to the Ghana Immigration Service which collects data for this purpose. Little attention has been paid to culture and therefore relevant data for planning and translating our cultural “values” into economic opportunities at the ministerial level is almost non-existent.
Multiplicity of Actors
Since it is a policy, the government has established different agencies, authorities, structures and different administrative units for its implementation. Over the years, culture does not seem to have had a permanent home of its own in the governance system of the country. This is partly due to the fact that the technocrats who are implementing our cultural policies have struggled to find an appropriate ‘location and a home’ for culture. Essentially, culture has remained a “squatter and a roaming ambassador” without a fixed portfolio. The history of culture shows that in the past it has always been coupled with some other ministry such as the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture, Chieftaincy and Culture, Education and Culture, and now the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. Owing to the similarity of their objectives, sometimes there is duplication of functions, with each agency attempting to justify its existence. Whenever you have multiplicity of actors in policy implementation, agencies under the parent ministry compete for the limited resources available to the ministry, and this can lead to wastage of resources.
In my opinion, those who are implementing the cultural policies of Ghana must begin to see culture as the raw material that provides the “input” that is to be transformed into “output” in the form of a product or service. Culture must be regarded as a non-traditional export, “quantified and monetized”, and for that reason the Ghana Export Promotion Authority must play a critical role in this enterprise. The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) must also begin to train cultural entrepreneurs.
Conclusion
Ghanaian culture is known worldwide as perhaps the most unique and buoyant in West Africa. Our diversity, history, the encounter with Europeans during the colonial era, the enslavement of our people, our forts and castles, “the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa” mantra, The Year of Return and many more iconic signposts give Ghana a cultural heritage unsurpassed in West Africa. Our culture is a gold mine. A careful planning and exploitation of our culture as a raw material can yield more revenue to GDP than tourism.
The Culture Day, initiated by the Ghana Culture Forum is a very useful event that must be supported with resources by the government and celebrated in all the regional and district capitals of Ghana in 2021. The youth in particular will benefit from the program. The young students who attended the event asked some interesting and amazing questions.
In order to transform the values of our culture into economic opportunities, tourism must be decoupled from culture. It is our culture that gave birth to our values, arts and crafts, which invariably attracts tourists to Ghana. It is therefore logical to conclude that our culture, which is the mother and “the hen that lays the golden egg” must be given her own proper home, and not as a squatter. We suggest that a new Ministry of Culture be established with functional specificity. Applied competency training program must be designed for implementers of the cultural policy in this ministry so that they can acquire some basic understanding of and knowledge about concepts such as Negritude, Pan Africanism, African Personality and Afrocentricity. The African Studies Department of the University of Ghana can provide such training. Perhaps, the Twi proverb quoted in the symposium’s program brochure, “nea onnim no sua a, ohu” – one who does not know, can do so by learning – re-emphasizes my point.
Yaw Owusu-Frempong
www.vivivimusicstudiosghana.com
email: vivivistudios@gmail.com
