Mahama promises fund for ageing artistes
The Presidential Candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has promised to create a fund for ageing creatives if he takes over the reins of government after the December 2024 election.
He made this promise at a policy dialogue held at the AH Hotel in Accra on Friday, June 7, 2024 for stakeholders of the creative arts industry.
According to him, the welfare of creatives has always been his concern; a reason he usually makes donations to such individuals in the entertainment space.
John Mahama, therefore, intimated that to sustain and amplify this gesture, he intends to put in place more effective measures.
“We will formalise the Ageing Artistes Fund. This one is my personal, greedy and selfish [promise] because it will take the burden off me for the current ones that I am taking care of. I think that the state should take part of that burden. So we will create a fund for ageing artistes and we will identify the indigen ones who are in support so that we can get them money to buy their medicines and be able to feed themselves. So we will set up the ageing artistes fund and we will formalise it,” he noted.
The former President indicated that elsewhere in the world, the most successful and the richest people are the creatives but the same cannot be said about Ghana.
“The creative arts is a very important industry and has the potential to create millions of jobs. All our young people who are sitting at home, many of them are talented but there are no opportunities for them to show their talents. So if we are able to put the creative industry on a sound footing, it will create opportunities for many of our young people,” he noted.
Ahead of the launch of their manifesto, he also mentioned other strategies they intend to use to elevate the industry if they are given the mandate to govern the country again.
