The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has held its Mid -Year Review Workshop in the Eastern Regional capital of Koforidua.
The Workshop reviewed the sector’s performance by defining the way forward in addressing the bottlenecks hindering the advancement of Ghana’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Sector. The event took place from Thursday, July 11th to Friday, July 12, 2019.
Delivering her keynote address, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng- Gyasi, implored the Heads of institutions under the Ministry to collaborate effectively help make a positive impact on the country’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Sector, adding that government expects the sector to thrive by changing the narratives in advancing on the socio-cultural and economic aspects of Ghana’s Tourism industry.
Oteng-Gyasi stressed that one of her core mandates is to see to the realization of the passage of the Creative Arts Bill, which will lead to the establishment of the Creative Arts Fund. The Bill is currently before parliament in its amendment stage awaiting consideration for approval.
She said the regional theatres would also see some major facelift, and Koforidua and Kumasi theatres have seen some significant transformation and would be replicated in other parts of the country.
On the Music Industry, She said the Ministry is working for practitioners in the Ghana’s music industry to have value in monetizing their music works with the establishment of Copyright Court.
In his welcome remarks, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ziblim Iddi Barri, urged the Agency heads under the Ministry to support the ministry’s agenda of transforming the local tourism sector
On his part, the MoTAC World Bank Project Coordinator, Dr.Jacob Doodu highlighted the prospects of the 40 million Ghana Cedis grant extended to the country’s tourism sector.
He emphasized that the overriding goal of the project is to significantly transform Ghana’s tourism sector by upgrading the existing tourism facilities across the country.
According Dr. Doodu, the project is anchored on four components and are catalogued as follows: Strengthening Tourism Enabling Environment, Developing Tourism Sites and Destinations, Tourism Enterprise Support Programme and Project Management Component.
The CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) Mr. Akwasi Agyemang, emphasized that there was the need for all the Agency Heads of the Ministry to meet with the Finance Minister to scale up the tourism sector budgetary allocations.
Adding to that, Board Chairman of the National theatre, Nana Fredua Ofori Atta, challenged MoTAC’s Agency Heads to put forward value for money proposal and argument that would warrant the Finance Minister to allocate the needed financial resources to the sector.
At the event, Eleven (11) Heads of Agencies of the Ministry, took turns to deliver their presentation on their institutions progress status.
The Mid-Year Review workshop is an annual assessment by MMDAs to appreciate the progress status of their Sector Ministries and to also address challenges they face.
