Accra, Aug. 9, GNA - Speakers at a Conference on Archaeology and Heritage Management on Wednesday said the absence of a comprehensive cultural management policy was depriving the country of access to economic gains on diverse archaeological resources.

They agreed that archaeology remained one of the enigmatic disciplines in Ghana and its potential to poverty reduction and national development had not yet been realised in all sectors of the economy. Speaking at the Conference, Dr Kodzo Gavua, Head of the Archaeology Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, said there was poor information and coordination between professional archaeologists and stakeholders.

"The situation is so bad that local archaeologists are sometimes ridiculed publicly, and it is the least preferred course of study among students at the University. So far, less than five per cent of all students, who are offering the course in the first year, major in the discipline."

Dr Gavua said it was against this backdrop that the Department, in collaboration with the Ghana National Museums and Monuments Board and the National Commission for Culture, was organising the Conference to inform Government and the general public on the relevance of the discipline to national development.

He explained that archaeology was a study that employed various techniques of field research to study human beings and their culture. It takes information from other disciplines to reconstruct the lives of people.

He said the Conference formed part of strategies to revise the Department's academic programme, research on the scope of collaboration between the intellectual level and the business community to enhance its performance.

The Conference would also brainstorm on Ghana's cultural heritage and its management, he said. 93We expect to lay a foundation for the development of a comprehensive museums policy for Ghana and a policy on archaeological research and cultural management as well." Dr Gavua commended Government for establishing the Ministry in charge of Culture and pledged to support it to collectively maintain and develop the positive aspects of culture.

Professor George Hagan, Chairman for the National Commission on Culture, said archaeology remained an important subject that would enable all Ghanaians to understand their culture and their origin to forge unity and national cohesion.

"To us archaeology is particularly important not only because the better part of our collective memory is buried in treasures, special memorabilia and cultural artefacts, but also our cultures are ancient indeed and our legends need to be verified", he said. Prof. Hagan said in the light of the growing international interests in pre-history, the Commission had set up a committee to come out with a framework to protect archaeological sites, facilitate research and enforce regulations on evacuations for building construction.

He expressed the hope that the framework would enable international bodies to seek funding and work in partnership with Ghanaian archaeologists to explore the country's territorial space. Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, who chaired the function, outlined the discipline's potential to develop tourism to become a major income earning industry. "Tourism studies can be thought of as including the application of such knowledge as a way of attracting the curiosity, spending power and empathy of visitors."

Prof. Asenso-Okyere expressed the hope that deliberations at the conference would enable the Archaeology Department to attract additional local and foreign staff and facilitate successful execution of its proposed academic restructuring programme and development projects. Mr Mats Karlsson, Country Director of the World Bank, said the Bank was ready to support the country's heritage management programme, so far as it was human capital focused to achieve accelerated development. "For Ghana to make a threshold jump to develop its cultural heritage, it needs to rely on the strength of its human and societal creativity," Mr Karlsson said, adding that there was the need for a strong coherent approach to develop the sector. He said as the country celebrated 50th independence anniversary next year, her cultural and heritage potential should be developed to derive maximum economic gains. 9 Aug. 06