NCC laments culture neglect

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday April 29, 2010
THE VOLTA Regional Director of the National Commission on Culture (NCC), William Addo says the only way to harness the potential of culture for economic development is to carefully follow national policy guidelines on it.

“We have comprehensive policies on how we can use our rich culture to develop this country but the institutions that should oversee such initiatives have not received the needed attention for the sector to grow.”

Mr. Addo was speaking at a workshop on culture and development planning organized by NCC in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) at Ho, the Volta Regional capital on Wednesday.

He said the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies could lead the effort to make culture an integral component of the development agenda by ensuring national policies on culture are pursued.

He said it should be possible for assemblies to create cultural villages and specialized markets to help generate more revenue for development.

“All the countries that we easily cite as our role models in development got there through proper laid down commitment to culture and development.”

He urged the Ho Municipal Assembly to actively support this year’s NAFAC and use it to set the country’s cultural agenda. Isaac Kontobisa, the Ho Municipal Chief Executive admitted that issues pertaining to the neglect of culture are stumbling blocks towards national development.

“We always fail to identify the potentials of our culture and give less attention to it when planning for various budget estimates. The time has come for us to realize the developmental aspects of culture and tap into them for the overall development of the nation.”

Isaac Owusu-Mensah, Senior Programmes Manager of KAS said “there is an urgent need to indigenize our lifestyles as Ghanaian so as to develop a craving for made-in Ghana goods and services and make conscious effort to document national heritage assets.”

He said KAS would collaborate with the NCC to promote the country’s culture and lead the effort to improve the socio-economic development of the country.

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