70% of prime-time content should be local – Awal Mohammed
To promote the consumption of Ghanaian movies, former Minister for Business Development, Dr. Ibrahim Awal Mohammed has proposed 70% local content for all media houses.
“70% of prime-time from 7 am to 9 pm should be local content” he said.
According to him, there has to be a deliberate effort to promote Ghanaian movies and music in the media
For the past few years, the movie industry has taken a nose-dive with many industry players attributing it to lack of investment, the influx of foreign telenovelas, and the absence of policies to protect local producers.
“It has gone from bad to worse,” she said.
But, appearing before the vetting committee in parliament, Dr. Awal said reviving the movie industry required a partnership between the government and the private sector.
He said he has plans of building a 20-million-dollar national studio to produce mini-series.
“Without a strong culture and artistic background, inculcating our culture into the youth will be difficult, we are securing a GHC50 million grant to support players in the tourism sector,” he said.
Explaining the difficulty of private media houses allocating 70% of their airtime to local content, the Minister-nominee said “With the right policies and partnership with the various MMDA’s and private businesses we will implement it”.
Commenting on the intentions of iconic singer, Steve Wonder, to move permanently to Ghana, Dr. Awal said “We will engage with Steve Wonder to be an ambassador for us, to attract more people to invest in our economy”