Ghana’s creative industry cannot afford to become a casualty of the country’s political cycle. It's natural for a new government to want to make its mark with fresh ideas and programmes. That's not the issue. The issue is when a good initiative gets dropped simply because it belonged to the last administration.
The creative industry deserves better.
Programmes and policies that have contributed to the growth of music, film, fashion, tourism, theatre and other creative sectors should be assessed on their results, not on the political party that introduced them.
If an initiative worked, keep it. If it had weaknesses, fix them. If it no longer serves its purpose, replace it with something demonstrably better. That should be the standard.
The debate surrounding Year of Return, Beyond the Return and Black Star Experience has brought this issue into sharp focus.
The Year of Return succeeded in putting Ghana firmly in the global conversation about African heritage and the diaspora. Beyond the Return was subsequently introduced as a longer-term programme to build on that momentum. The Black Star Experience has now been presented as a year-round platform for Ghana’s culture, creativity and tourism.
There is nothing wrong with a government introducing a new vision. But a new programme should not diminish the achievements of an old one in order to establish its relevance.
What Ghana needs is continuity. (Read Is Rex Omar on top of the Black Star Experience?)
Our creative practitioners are not interested in which political party conceived a programme. Musicians want opportunities. Filmmakers want functioning institutions and markets. Actors want productions. Event organisers want a viable business environment. Fashion designers want access to investment and international markets. Tourism operators want visitors.
They need policies that survive elections.
That means the people appointed to run creative institutions need to see themselves as serving the industry and the country, not just the government that put them there. Therefore, criticism of a programme shouldn't be brushed off as political point-scoring. Every new initiative deserves a fair shot to prove itself, but it also deserves honest questions about how it's run and what it's actually achieving.
Ghana's creative industry is too important economically, culturally and internationally to keep getting caught in this cycle of political musical chairs.
Maybe it's time we stopped asking who started something, and started asking whether it works.
If it works, build on it. If it doesn't, fix it.
