John Dumelo
Actor-turned-politician John Dumelo has received a lot of condemnation on social media over his statement that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has no hand in the collapse of the Ghana Films Industry Corporation (GFIC).
The Ghana Film Industry Corporation, which was established in 1964 by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was used to produce films for socio-economic development till the 90s.
In 1996, the government of Ghana sold 70 per cent of the equity in the GFIC to the Malaysian television production company, Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad of Kuala Lumpur. The GFIC was renamed Gama Media System Limited. This affected the rising film industry in the country very badly, according to earlier reports.
GFIC was in charge of about half the cinema-theatres in the country at the time. The sale of the 70 per cent of GFIC collapsed the cinema industry. The company had little interest in filmmaking, and so the film industry had to depend on independent filmmakers whose funding relied on the popular appeal of the films.
But while speaking on UTV’s United Showbiz hosted by Nana Ama McBrown on Saturday evening, John Dumelo, in a heated argument, denied accusations by musician Nicholas Omane Acheampong, who was a guest on the show, that the “NDC government collapsed the Ghana films industry.”
“It is not true. Where is the proof?” he asked on the show.
But his comments came as a shock to many TV viewers who are aware of the sale of GFIC.
“So John Dumelo doesn’t know Ghana films industry was sold under the NDC government to the Malaysians in 1996,” one @Sakatu4 asked in a tweet.
“Don’t blame him. The guy does not know the difference between macro and micro-economic,” @DanielOwusuAsa1 also responded.
“If this is what John Dumelo is going to do at Parliament di??, please don’t go.. Tweaa.. Man lacks a whole lot. No wonder the NDC likes the bottom up approach,”@NanaTiptoe also tweeted.