Nana Ama McBrown and Kwesi Ernest Ennin
Kwesi Ernest Ennin, an artiste manager and music producer, has advised filmmakers in Kumasi to accept President Akufo-Addo’s decision to build a film village in the Eastern Region.
According to him, the president has the mandate to develop every part of the country, and building a film village in the Eastern Region is not wrong.
On Wednesday, a group of actors from the Ashanti Region petitioned Ghana’s Parliament to ensure that a film village is built in Kumasi? the hub of Ghanaian movies (Kumawood) ? rather than Kyebi in the Eastern Region.
Nana Ama McBrown, who led the group, was reported to have said, “We play a very critical role in the movie industry in Ghana. We have employed more Ghanaians as part of our business. For this reason, we are petitioning Parliament to ensure that the film village is set up in the Ashanti Region.”
The decision to petition government came from reports that government was planning to build a film village for the country, which will be located in the Eastern Region.
The 2019 government budget statement said, “The government has acquired 200 acres of land in the Eastern Region to build the film village.”
There have been several debates on different platforms over where the village should be built.
Speaking about the issue with NEWS-ONE on Thursday afternoon, Kwesi Ernest, who is also the CEO of Media Excel, suggested that the actors should rather be commending government for its decision build a film village in the Eastern Region.
This, he indicated, will open other opportunities in that part of the country.
“Inasmuch as we agree that Kumasi has the highest population of actors and producers and, therefore, citing a village there is ideal, I do not also see why we should begrudge the president for deciding to build a film village in the Eastern Region. This is because the Eastern Region is part of Ghana and president has a mandate to develop the whole country, not just Kumasi,” he indicated.
He continued, “I disagree with people who always go on demonstration wherever the president decides to start a factory and they say no, come and build it at our place. Does it mean that some parts of the country are more important than other parts? This is my argument; the president has got a mandate to develop the whole country so if he decided to start a film village in the Eastern Region, he is not done anything wrong. Or is it because we have not heard any actor coming from Eastern Region, that is why Kumasi people are going on demonstration? When they were building Rattray Park in Kumasi, did people in the Volta Region complain? Did people in Cape Coast also complain when they were building Kejetia Market?”
By Francis Addo