Minister-designate for Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts, Hon. Catherine Abelema Afeku today faced the appointment committee of Ghana’s parliament to be vetted on her aptitude for the post.

She answered questions on a wide variety of questions relating to the current dynamics of Ghana’s culture, as well as our tourism potential.

Answering a question from Hon. Adjoa Safoa relating to the influx of foreign soap operas on our television screens, and the youth being socialised with foreign culture at the expense of indigenous identity, she bemoaned the effects it has had on our culture and industry over the years, stressing that it proves poisonous to local creative enterprises: “this is a very difficult and challenging aspect of our free market model and censorship challenge…it’s devastating to our local arts and movie industry”.

However, she expressed confidence in the power of supporting local industries as a potent solution: “In a free market space, it is very difficult to deal with these things. What we have to do is to support and encourage local content so that it can out-saturate foreign movies and telenovelas”.

MP for Evalue Jomoro-Gwira constituency in the Western region, Catherine Abelema Afeku takes over from Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, who has headed the ministry since 2013. She was MP between 2009 to 2012, and returns to parliament after emerging winner in last month’s polls.

She has also previously served as Government Spokesperson for Infrastructure, and has constantly stressed innate desire and strong passion for public service.

She’s also credited with making key inputs while in parliament, and serves on 3 committees in the house: The Road and Transport Committee, The Communications Committee as the Deputy Ranking Member and the Business Committee.

Established in 1993, the ministry functions to “develop and promote tourism and improve the capital city, Accra. These functions are aimed at optimising the socio-economic growth of the country through tourism-related activities and the promotion of environmental impact for the benefit of deprived communities with tourist sites in the country”.