Go back for our good cultural values — B/A Minister

Dec - 12 - 2014 , 01:42

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, has called on Ghanaians to retrace their steps and develop the taste for their own food, dress decently and show more reverence for the elderly and one another.

Generally, he said culture was a way of life of any group of people and included among others, their food, language, beliefs, behaviour, customs and traditions, as well as their creative arts and literature.

However, Mr Opoku expressed regret that globalisation and the exposure to foreign cultures had negatively affected the country’s cultural values.

Mr Opoku was speaking at the cerebration of Brong Ahafo Region Day at the ongoing National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) in Sunyani yesterday.

In attendance were the 45 paramount chiefs from the region or their representatives. Various cultural troupes from all the districts in the region put up good performances, including traditional dances.

The Upper West and Eastern regions also celebrated their days with performances and traditional dancing.

Loss of identity

Mr Opoku noted that in recent times, the way Ghanaians dressed had undergone a lot of changes, resulting in more indecent appearances of people, especially the youth.

He added that modernity had also resulted in a drastic change in the citizen’s taste for food, pointing out that the heightened demand for foreign foods had plunged the country into high import bills.

Mr Opoku, who spoke passionately about the country’s biased demands for foreign products, said, “What is more, some of us who have never travelled outside the shores of this country when we speak, want to sound like the westerners.”

The regional minister said it had reached the point where people even bought used shoes, furniture, mobile phones and Brazilian hair.

“All these are in our attempt to imbibe foreign culture such that our true identity as Africans is lost,” he said.

He explained that the adverse result of the over-reliance on anything foreign was that “we deny our local economy the opportunity to grow which would have inured tremendously to the benefit of our citizens through employment creation for our teeming youth, thereby leading to a significant improvement in their livelihood”.

Tourism Minister

The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, commended the chiefs and people of the Brong Ahafo Region for the support they had offered the ministry, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs, as well as the Brong Ahafo Coordinating Council, towards the successful organisation of NAFAC 2014 in Sunyani.

She said the holding of NAFAC 2014 in Sunyani would continue to bring dividends to the region.