Akufo-Addo should take creatives on his international travels – KOD

Ghanaian broadcaster, Kofi Okyere Darko (KOD) has made a call on the President, Nana Akufo-Addo to be travelling on international assignments with Ghanaian creatives.

The Founder of the Nineteen57 fashion brand told Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z that one of the ways Ghana’s arts can be marketed on the global scene is for the President to take along with him creatives.

Citing the President’s presence at the Global Citizen Festival which was held in 2018 in South Africa without a single Ghanaian performer, he said Nana Akufo-Addo should have insisted he wanted a Ghanaian artiste to perform at the event.

“I was in South Africa when we had the first Global Citizen Festival [in Africa]. I was angry. I was so angry. Nana Akufo-Addo was one of the few Presidents on the platform. We didn’t have a single Ghanaian musician. I was like ‘hello who is opening the doors for us?’

This is when we have to be very intentional about what we do. When Kamala Harris came to Ghana he came with Spike Lee. Was he just here to document her trip to Ghana?” he said.

He also mentioned when 2007 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks came to Ghana with former President of America, George W. Bush in 2008.

During Bush’s visit to the U.S Ambassador’s residence in Accra on February 20, 2008, Jordin Sparks performed the US National Anthem before he delivered his speech.

The story is told of how Ghana’s first President would travel with Ghanaian bands on his foreign trips.

Supporting KOD’s suggestion, poet and playwright, Chief Moomen noted that having poets, musicians or other creatives to travel outside with the President is a laudable idea.

According to him, there could be a deliberate agenda by the President to propose to his international hosts for such performances from Ghanaian acts.

They made these submissions while discussing ways to make Ghanaian arts more visible on the international scene.