Ghana must make its culture attractive

Efo Kojo Mawugbe, Executive Director of the National Theatre of Ghana, has called on government to make Ghana's culture more attractive by positively projecting it as a living identity of the state. He said culture is currently perceived from a taxidermy approach, making it look unreal or dead and unattractive to the people and even tourism. Efo Mawugbe who was addressing participants at the 62nd Annual New Year School and Conference on Tuesday said developing the cultural minds of the people alongside other development processes was important to build their cultural confidence and make create a total sense of belonging. Speaking under the topic: "Youth, Culture and Development", he said the youth needed to be guided to become responsible agents of change and there was the need to boost their confidence and liberate them from fear of the bondage of an indigenous and unsafe origin that is perceived by others as outmoded. He said there was also the need to carefully modernise some cultural aspects of the various traditions without removing important aspects of wisdom and values to make them more attractive to the youth and other nationals. Efo Mawugbe argued that projecting theatre could be one of the important and interesting avenue and aspect of projecting culture and asked for government support and assistance. He attributed the challenge of 'brain drain' of the youth to other western countries to the failure of the nation's ability to design interesting programmes and job avenues for the them to fit and have confidence to be self employed. Nana Ama Ayensua Saara, Queenmother of Denkyira, called for the revamping of traditional and cultural performances in the form of songs, dance, food and story telling in schools and other festivals as well as in homes, to help protect Ghana's rich heritage and culture. She said the youth of today are missing a lot in cultural musical exposures as a carrier of oral tradition and historical occurrences. She urged the youth to eschew negative western influences that are often presented through music, dances and indecent dressing and uphold their own rich culture to ensure their development and maintain the Ghanaian identity.