Following reports that the Nigerian censorship Board has banned the depiction of ritual killings and smoking in movies, movie director and industry expert Ola Michael has called for the activation of existing classification laws to address the portrayal of sensitive content in Ghanaian media.

Speaking exclusively to GhanaWeb's Isaac Dadzie, Ola Michael pointed out that Ghana already has laws to prevent showing content that depicts smoking, money rituals, and other vices on TV stations and social media.

However, there is a delay in enforcing these laws in Ghana, which has led to an increase in the glamourisation of such vices, which he said has been influenced by Nigerian movies.

"I have followed the Nigerian narrative for a long time. It has existed for a long time. In any movie you see, there has to be some money ritual, some ritual killing, campus ritual killing, and all that. Leaders at that time realised this was going to be a huge problem if they didn't stop it. So they began looking for some sort of regulation towards it.

"Now, if you come to Ghana, let's look at the larger board. Is this something we want the young people to keep learning? No. Is it the only thing we can do in movies? No," he said.

According to Ola Michael, the current situation results from the law's dormancy, as those responsible for its activation have been inactive.

He emphasised that the law, which covers all visual materials including TV, cinema, and social media, requires classification to determine the suitability of content for public viewing.

Ola Michael criticised the lack of enforcement and the political manoeuvring that has prevented the law from being operational. He argued that without active classification, content that could negatively influence young viewers continues to be accessible.

"The version of the NFVCB in Ghana is the film classification board. I was an integral part of the people that drafted the law, and I know exactly why we put every single line there. If we had activated this, we wouldn't have faced these challenges because ours covers TV stations as well.

"So such a law exists, but it hasn't been activated. The law that we drafted and was passed by parliament is sleeping and that is because the people that have been positioned to activate it are also sleeping. It's been a political football. So that is the challenge,” he said.

Michael also drew comparisons with the Indian film industry, where strict advertising guidelines are in place to discourage smoking, despite its portrayal in films.

"If you watch Bollywood movies, before the movie starts, there's a classification and censorship certificate shown. After that, there's a compulsory advert advising people against smoking for every movie… because the tobacco industry is a strong one. You cannot stop them so all you do is create guidelines that will prevent the young ones from smoking. So, in their films, you will never see a young person smoking. It's either a certain policeman or a rich man smoking.

“In Nigeria, they have the right to even take out any iota of smoke. In the films, they have the right to do that. And you can't do anything about it. The only way you can deal with them is to go to the courts to challenge the law," he said.

He suggested that similar measures could be effective in Ghana if the laws were properly enforced. However, according to him, these laws were not being enforced due to political strife between the bodies responsible for the enforcement.

"There are people responsible for that, but they are just playing politics with it. Christopher was part of us when we were drafting the law, and he is supposed to be the chairman of the classification committee but the film authority executive secretary feels she is so powerful that she has to set up her own classification committee.

“And it's become a political football for the past four or five years. That is why you see all these things happening, and it seems like there's no law," he said.

ID/ ADG

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