Take up govt positions to effect change in industry – Okraku-Mantey to entertainment industry players

The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey, has encouraged entertainment industry players to aspire for and take up government positions to influence change in the entertainment industry.

According to him, having a lot of industry players in government would work for the good of the sector, as a lot of people would have the power to push for positive change in the industry.

To solidify his point, he cited an example of how Dzifa Abla Gomashie, an entertainment industry player and a former deputy minister, helped him draw a better budget for government.

"I went to parliament to defend the ministry's budget, and when Dzifa Abla Gomashie entered, she said she wanted to sit by me. She sat by me, said she had been there before, and that the budget wouldn't suffice, so they should add some to it. And the people were surprised—is that an NDC person?

“And she said it is the industry we are fighting for. So, she is NDC, but because we understood something that maybe the rest of them wouldn't understand, NDC and NPP merged on the day, and we got some good results. And so, we need more people [creatives] to come on board," he said in a report on myjoyonline.com.

The deputy minister refuted claims that industry players will be sidelined, leading to a loss of revenue when they take an interest in politics. He said that it is not always the case.

He said, “I never saw that. I became a politician through Akufo-Addo as a candidate. Note: Before A Plus and I started this agenda for Candidate Akufo-Addo, creative people were scared to show their faces for politics. Jewel Ackah was somehow a peripheral politician. He didn't want to show his face; he only did music; he did business.”