Dumelo Disagrees Arts and Tourism Minister Should Be From the Creative Industry

Actor and Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Hon John Dumelo, has expressed a dissenting view over the appropriate calibre of person to be appointed as Minister over the Arts and Tourism Ministry.

Unlike his colleague players in the creative industry, he believes competence should rather a priority.

According to him, the responsibility of the Minister and the bolts and nuts of the Ministry goes beyond the industry.

“I perfectly understand the position of my people but I think that being a Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture goes beyond being a Creative,” he pointed out in an interview with Graphic Showbiz.

“What is more important is to be visionary and seek the welfare of the players you represent at the ministry. Who can best represent the ideals and goals, and equally understand the policies of the sector? That’s what is important to me and not whether the person is a Creative or not,” he added.

Ghana has seen a number of the creative arts industry players ascending that position. The recent was Music producer Mark Okraku Mantey who was in 2021 appointed by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as Deputy Minister over the Ministry.

Earlier in 2024, Ghanaian highlife artiste Rex Omar passed a comment over Mark’s performance at the Ministry saying next to nothing had been achieved.

The appointment of Okraku Mantey was widely welcomed by industry players who thought the industry would receive the needed government attention it had been starved of for years.

However, over the years, some players registered their disappointment in him.

Ghanaian musician Kelvyn Boy in a tweet said the Deputy Minister had grown “awfully silent” on the industry after his appointment.

Meanwhile, media personality Kofi Okyere Darko known as (KKD) in an interview is quoted to have said, “Maybe there was no clear-cut plan for what to do with the creative space. When our brother Mark Okraku-Mantey was appointed, many people said, ‘Oh, this is one of us’, but up until now, I have not seen much from him as a person. In actual fact, you can’t even access him, you want him to do something for you, and you have to deal with him like any other person, not like one of us who has been elevated. He has forgotten why he was elevated. We thought someone like him would be a mouthpiece for us. But I am disappointed in what the government has done. They could have done more for us.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini