Ghana enacts Creative Arts Bill into law

The news was confirmed by Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture Barbara Oteng Gyasi on 17 December.

“This is a good day for the Creative Arts Industry, we are excited,” she told local media. “Today, I am happy to announce that we have passed the Creative Arts Bill and very soon it will be assented to by the President.” 

The bill is expected to bolster the industry, beginning with providing a framework for regulating the country’s creative economy, which includes music, film, advertising, PR, architecture, fashion and tourism sectors, among others. Additionally, the law enables the establishment of the Creative Arts Fund and an agency to promote the growth of the sector.

“We know that from next year, the Agency is going to be set up, we will have adequate funding from the budget, other sources. The establishment of the Creative Arts Fund is very significant because we know that that is one of the major challenges of the industry,” she said. 

President of the Creative Arts Council Mark Okraku Mantey said he was happy about the development, saying that “it will enable the government to organise the Creative Arts Industry and create an enabling environment through direct and indirect support for practitioners and industry players to impact on national development.”

The Creative Arts Bill has been a key promise of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the country’s creative sector and formed part of its 2016 and 2020 manifestos.

Last year, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, during his third state of the nation address, assured the country that the bill would be ready for implementation soon. Oteng Gyasi has also reiterated her commitment to getting the bill passed into law before she completed her tenure as minister.

However, the enactment of the bill was met with criticism about by some stakeholders in the industry, including 3Music Awards CEO Sadiq Abdulai Abu, who questioned why the government waited until the end of its first term to fulfil one of its anchor promises to the creative sector.

Meanwhile, Oteng Gyasi lost her parliamentary seat for the Prestea Huni-Valley constituency of Ghana’s Western Region in the recently-held general elections. She was defeated by the opposition National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) candidate, Wisdom Cudjoe, who polled  56 464 votes against Oteng Gyasi's 34 067.