�Government Has No Right To Establish Creative Arts Council�

The President of the Music Council of Ghana (MCG), Ekow Micah, has declared that the Ministry Of Tourism, Culture And Creative Arts has no right to form a creative council for the creative arts industry. Last week, the Ministry in a statement issued in Accra said that steps were being taken to establish a creative arts council, which, according to the Ministry, would not in any way undermine the existence of relevant, active, focused, results-driven and well-meaning associations or councils already around. Ekow Micah on the contrary thinks the Ministry�s objective to form or establish creative arts council for the industry would only undermine the credibility of the already established Music Council of Ghana (MCG) which started its operations a couple of years ago. �I think what the Ministry is trying to do now is to impose a council on the stakeholders in the creative industry which I think is not right. The Tourism Ministry�s agenda is only to wipe out the peace that the industry is enjoying now. The Ministry should take a second look at its decision since its going to create division among the stakeholders.� Although the Ministry said the coming into force of the creative council would not be a threat to any existing entity, Ekow Micah disagreed, saying, �It is an attempt by the Ministry and its government to gag the stakeholders in the creative arts industry.� Ekow Micah, however, called on the stakeholders in the creative arts industry to resist any move by the government to dictate to the stakeholders on how they should run the industry.