Wa, Nov. 20, GNA – The Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Sulemana Alhassan, has urged the youth to use technology tools like mobile phones, television and internet to market the diverse rich cultures of Ghanaians to the global community.
According to him, the proliferation of mobile phones and other tools of technology have eroded the beautiful Ghanaian cultures and exposed the youth to foreign cultures - which he described as “regrettably demeaning our own cultures”.
Alhaji Alhassan said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, during the celebration of the 2018 regional festival of arts and culture in Wa.
He said: “Our dance and music is gradually fading out. “Let us take advantage of technology by using the television, mobile phones, and the internet to promote our cultural heritage”.
The Upper West Region is noted for its diverse rich cultures and viral untapped historic sites that could be exploited for local development and engage the teeming unemployed youth - a lot of whom have taken to illegal mining and criminal activities.
Aside pottery, the Region abounds in many tourist attraction sites like Wechiau Hippopotamus Sanctuary, Gwollu Slave Defence Wall, Wulli Mushroom Rocks, Wa Naa Walace and many others.
“Musical instruments like the xylophone which is unique to the Region and other pottery and smock weaving can be a source of employment to the youth,” the Minister said.
He commended the chiefs and people of Lawra, Nandom, Jirapa and Wala traditional areas for celebrating festivals like Kobine, Kakube, Parri Gbielli, Bongo and Damba to portray the traditions and cultures of the area.
He encouraged young artistes to develop their skills and talents, saying:” Some of you would be selected to represent the Region at the national level, please be worthy ambassadors of the Region when the occasion arises”.
The celebration was on the theme: “Empowering the youth through Culture, Tourism and Creative Arts for Employment Creation”, which the Executive Director of National Commission on Culture, Mrs Edna Janet Nyame, said was chosen to place premium on commercial viability of local cultures.
“[The theme] significantly emphasized on the potential commercial viability of the elements of our rich cultural heritage and utilizing them for our optimum benefit,” she said.
She advised the youth pursuing visual arts to use weaving, sculpturing, painting and drawing to make ends meet by enrolling to learn the artefacts and sell the products for foreign exchange to boost the economy.
Tourism in Ghana is largely driven by culture and considering its huge foreign cash inflow to the country, Mrs Nyame said, “It is even more crucial that we guard jealously against it by holding steadfastly onto it for the greater good of it”.
The Upper West Regional Director of National Commission on Culture, Mr Mark Dagbee Nyuvie, said the Region started with five districts but now has 11 districts and municipal assemblies, which called for adequate staff to manage the offices in the additional districts.
According to him, the Upper West Regional Centre of National Commission on Culture was the only directorate in the country without its own office building, and pleaded with authorities to facilitate the building of one for the Region.
“It is a situation from grace to grass,” he said: “We however accept it in the interest corporate Ghana”.
GNA
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