Ghana: Cabinet approves Creative Arts Bill

This development was made public by the country’s Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia during a Q&A session at a town hall meeting held in Accra on 17 August. In addition to the bill, a fund for the creative industry was also announced.

“Just yesterday [16 August], cabinet approved the Creative Arts Bill and this is going to Parliament when they come back in October," Bawumia said. "Under the Creative Arts Bill, we are setting up the Creative Arts Fund to empower the creative arts industry. It is going to be real growth poll for this country.”

It was also revealed that President Nana Akufo-Addo had commissioned a special senior high school in Kumasi. In addition, a theatre had been completed in Koforidua while the construction of another theatre was ongoing in Kumasi.

The Creative Arts Bill will serve as a framework to regulate the country’s creative economy, including music, film, advertising, PR, architecture, fashion and tourism, among other related sectors.

It comes a year after Nana Akufo-Addo announced in his state of the nation address that the government was finalising the bill. Akufo-Addo's statement was reinforced by Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture Barbara Oteng Gyasi last month when she promised to get the bill passed before the end of her tenure.

“For me, it’s very critical. If I don’t do anything at all between now and the end of the year, I will at least ensure that the bill is passed into law. It is a promise and I’m going to work hard at it,” she told the Accra-based Joy FM.

However, reacting to the news on Hitz FM on 19 August, creative entrepreneur and 3Music Awards CEO Sadiq Abdulai Abu lamented the timing of the bill's approval and questioned why the government had waited until four months before a general election to fulfil one of its anchor promises, noting that “part of the reason these politicians take us [the creative industry] for granted is that the thought leadership, with regard to how to enable industry, is often lost."

"Every election year, after not enabling our industry, they will come in, galvanise a few creatives for songs and adverts and then go back to sleep," he said.

Meanwhile, a specialised court was created last month to cater to the rights and interests of Ghanaian creatives.