The Convener of the Foundation of Concerned Arts Professionals (FOCAP), Kojo Preko Dankwa, has described as illegal the appointment of Gyankroma Akufo-Addo as the Executive Secretary of the Creative Arts Agency.
On Joy FM‘s Showbiz A-Z, he said that Gyankroma is working in the office without the official knowledge of the stakeholders of the industry.
“She is the illegal Executive Secretary of the Creative Arts Agency. And I am surprised we are still sitting on this matter and the President is still watching, the Ministry is still watching,” he told the host Kwame Dadzie.
According to him, her appointment needed to have been made public if indeed it was duly conducted.
“If she has received her appointment letter we have to know. The President appoints a Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority and it is not done in darkness. We all know. Officially, you need to tell us. Then [if she’s been given her appointment letter] it means that government does not respect us,” he explained.
The Creative Arts Agency is a body that provides institutional framework for the development and management of the creative arts industry and for related matters.
The Executive Secretary of the Agency is appointed by the President of the Republic of Ghana. This official is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Agency and is answerable to Board in the performance of functions stipulated in the Creative Industry Act (1048).
The act also prescribes the formation of a Board as the governing body of the institution.
“Article 195 of the Constitution which gave the President the power to appoint an Executive Secretary and a Board for the National Film Authority gives him the same power to do same for the Creative Arts Agency,’ Kojo further noted.
In the meantime, stakeholders of the creative industry are awaiting the formation of a Board and the ratification of the Legislative Instrument to the act to make the activities of the Agency more functional.