Kumasi, June 23, GNA- Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture, has called on all Ghanaian to collaborate efforts to address negative practices associated with the nation's culture. He said practices such as puberty and widowhood rites and funeral celebrations, which have been adulterated should be reformed to conform to modernisation.

Mr Boafo made the call at the inauguration of the National Planning Committee of the Golden Jubilee National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC), in Kumasi on Friday.

The 26-member committee, which will plan the festival that will be held in Kumasi on November, is under the joint chairmanship of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah and Oheneba Kwame Kyeretwie, Apagyahene of Kumasi.

Mr. Boafo advised that participants of the key sectors of the economy should be included in the planning of the festival to enable them to showcase their achievements to the world. He urged members of the Committee to discharge their duties effectively to ensure the success of the event. Mr. Owusu-Ansah called for a dialogue between stakeholders to ensure that the festival was organized at a fixed period and a permanent place to achieve the desired results.

He explained that the planning should be such that tourism could take the centre stage of the festival, adding that organising the event on rotational bases was not the best option. Mr S.F Adjei, the Regional Director of the Centre for National Culture, said the festival had come at an opportune time to honour Dr Alex Kyeremanteng, the founder of the Centre, who also made the festival part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations.