Entertainment pundit, Amandzeba Fiifi Smith has charged the creative arts industry to pay equal attention to the fashion industry.
According to him, many in the industry think the creative arts industry is all about music and movies “but that is never true. There are a lot more people employed in the fashion industry than in the movie and music. Which human being does not wear clothes? Now when you go to offices in the country you will see people wearing African print and that is creative.”
The Manager of Ghanaian fashionista, Osebo the Zara Man noted that many people far and near have always regarded Ghanaian fashion and believe it is high time more attention was paid to it. “Some of us aspired to be like KKD when we were younger and people still travel from abroad to Ghana just to see him and appreciate his fashion sense.
Just like him, Osebo has become a new face of Ghana fashion. People travel from China, UK, US to take pictures with him when we don’t really appreciate his works here.”
To him, Ghanaians simply lack understanding and appreciation of what Osebo is doing with his brand here in Ghana. “Ghanaians prefer foreign stuff to local ones and that is a problem. While foreigners call to place orders for his stuff, we in Ghana do not even patronize what he makes.”
Commemorating World Tourism Day with Happy98.9FM’s Don Kwabena Prah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show, he bemoaned the neglect of tour sites in the country.
“Over the weekend I went to Lake Bosomtwe and the place was not even inviting. The road that leads to the place is in a deteriorating state and not fit for a tour site. If we want to go on and grow our tourism sector then we better renovate these places,” he noted.
He appealed to government to also appoint the right people to lead the creative arts industry instead of giving the work to politicians. “They do not understand the terrain and that is not helping us.”
With the development of infrastructure being a core focus, he noted, “we also need to develop our infrastructure so it doesn’t look like what it was 20 years ago. We need fresh ideas to change the narrative of tourism and we also need critical thinkers who will pull tourists to the country.”
