Martha Ankomah
Actress Martha Ankomah says she is appalled by the increasing numbers of Ghanaian businessmen investing into building apartments for rent, yet the facilities remain empty for years because ordinary Ghanaians can’t afford them.
Speaking in an interview with NEWS-ONE on Saturday, she said such business men should rather consider investing into the movie industry.
“I see people building apartments all over and you don’t see people living in it. Why don’t we use it to build cinemas? At least it will look like it is a small shopping mall but people will come, watch movies … If you have been going to Nigeria you will know what I am talking about,” she stated.
Martha added, “People building apartments and are waiting for white people (foreigners) to come and stay in it but the whites people are not coming. Please build us cinemas. We shoot the movies and show it in your cinemas and you will make your money back.”
There have been hues and cries over the state of Ghana’s movie industry. While some say it is dead, others claim it’s on a ‘limping leg’.
For the industry to rub shoulders with others in the world, governments, the media and all Ghanaians have a role to play.
According to Martha, “We need people to invest into cinemas and our industry. When you go to Nigeria you see cinemas all over. They are for individual investors. Government has also pumped money into the movie industry in Nigeria but look at us. The TV stations are also part of the problem; showing foreign series. We need to regulate them.”
When she was asked about some investors who were overly milked by movie producers after investing into the movie industry, she said, “When you don’t work with the right people, you end up wrongly. Such people will always milk you.”
Meanwhile, she believes the movie industry needs some spiritual deliverance to get back on its feet.
“I have been praying about it for God to change the face of things in the movie industry because I am a Christian,” she revealed.
By Francis Addo