Let’s preserve our culture

The speech delivered by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Madam Catherine Afeku, at the Ghana Cultural Forum held last Tuesday at the National Theatre about the completion of abandoned or suspended regional centres of National Culture is bound to be received positively by culture and creative arts enthusiasts.

Even as the country marks 60 years of independence this month, it is important that we take an introspective look at ourselves as a nation and assess how far we have come. As we look forward as a nation, it is also important that we do not lose sight of our cultural heritage.

Centres for National Culture are vital in this regard since they serve as a repository where citizens and foreigners alike can learn about the cultures of the different regions in the country.

With the revenue tourism is expected to generate for the country, it is incumbent on the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and other relevant bodies to safeguard our culture from dilution.

National Cultural Centres also serve as venues for hosting myriad of creative events which often might be aborted due to lack of venue.

This will give the regions a taste of events instead of everything being held in Accra.  It goes without saying that the establishment of more cultural centres will boost the frequency and interest in cultural activities within the regions.

All these notwithstanding, the truth of the matter is that there is still a vast body of our culture and Ghana’s history that is yet to be documented. There is a real risk of them being lost forever if we do not take steps to document in one form or the other for future generations.

The development and support for our national culture must take into consideration our unity in diversity and recognise the value of culture as an instrument for validating ourselves as an African people, apart from celebrating our intrinsic cultural systems to showcase their richness to the rest of the world.