Ghana goes to the polls in December 2024 to elect a new government. Currently, the Ghanaian voter will have to decide between two major parties, the National Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Both parties have publicly released their manifestos on what they plan to do in their administration if elected in December.
Here’s how both parties compare in addressing the creative industry in Ghana:
NPP’s Plan For Creative Industry (PDF)
- Use tax incentives, including a flat tax, to incentivise private sector investments in sports, tourism, and creative arts facilities
- implement an e-visa policy for all international visitors to Ghana, to make visa acquisition fast and convenient for visitors
- roll out a visa-free policy for all nationals of African and Caribbean countries visiting Ghana
- establish, in partnership with the private sector, a streaming and digital management platform for Ghanaian content developers in the creative arts
- establish a Travel Protocol Service (TPS) for the creatives community, to enable artistes, performers, and other creatives, honour international performances and shows
NDC’s Plan for Creative Industry (PDF)
- Create and promote ‘The Black Star Experience’ as Ghana’s flagship Culture, Arts, and Tourism brand to make Ghana a preferred tourism destination.
- Revive the Creative Arts Fund to provide sustainable financial support for start-ups and the ailing large, medium, and small creative enterprises.
- Review and strictly enforce broadcasting, digital media, and local content provisions to stimulate local artistic productions.
- Facilitate, enforce, and enhance the collection and management system for copyrights and royalties in Ghana.
- Partner with the private sector to build an ultra-modern recreation village with auditoriums for films, musical concerts, and other special events.
Our Take
Both parties state that they will enforce policies to stimulate the creativity sector but don’t go into specific details or numbers
Our Take on NPP’s Manifesto
The NPP manifesto focuses more on drawing in international travellers to boost tourism in the country with their focus on visa-free initiatives and a travel protocol for creatives to travel to perform outside the country.
The NPP manifesto plan to partner to create a streaming and digital management platform is vague, especially given the fact that organisations like GHARMO already exist to collect royalties on behalf of creatives.
Our Take on NDC’s Manifesto
As with the NDC manifesto, there are some policies that are “vague” policies and require more details. The NDC manifesto states that it will enforce and enhance the collection of royalties for creatives which we assume would mean that they plan on revamping and giving more resources to GHARMO for their operations
Interestingly, the NDC manifesto pushes more creation of venues for auditoriums and venues for creative events but doesn’t go into details. Ironically, the current government also pledged to build auditoriums but it hasn’t come to fruition.
Overall
Both parties present general policies but need to be more specific in terms of the amount of funding they want to establish and how they would fund entities like GHARMO.
The NPP manifesto goes into a bit more specific details for tourism including visa-free, e-visa, and transportation protocols to bring in more tourists and help local artists to expand beyond Ghana’s borders.
We feel that the NPP manifesto goes into a bit more detail overall when it comes to its policies for the creative sector in Ghana but we will be on standby for more details as both parties for the December elections.
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