Opinions of Saturday, 11 July 2015

Columnist: Yiadom, Boakye

National theatre auditorium on Liberia road in Accra needs refurbishing.

By Dr. Boakye Yiadom

The Auditorium of the National Theatre, built not many years ago, is in a deplorable situation now. I was privileged to attend a Share Holders conference on June 3, 2015, at the auditorium. I observed that the carpet on the floor of the auditorium is completely worn out and is in shambles.
My observation was that a cheap carpet was bought and laid in that beautiful auditorium. The National Theatre has a Board of Directors, the Managing Director, his Deputy and other administrative staff, who are all paid with tax payers’ money as well as moneys accruing from renting of the auditorium and the restaurants established in the building.
Iron slabs are physically showing without any size of the carpet covering, as one walks down to the dais which sat the Chairman and other members of his team
It seems the National Theatre has nobody to supervise its activities and the money thus accruing going to the drain. The auditorium’s carpet should be removed and replaced with a new but quite expensive one.
Organizations and renters of the auditorium do pay for the hall and the service of the staff. It looks as if accountability at the National Theatre is being ignored. The face lift of the auditorium should be the Board’s number one priority.
I believe it is the responsibility of the Board to ensure that the place is refurbished including the seats and painting for the good of all walks of life. The Board should not wait until something disastrous happen in the auditorium before action is taken. The place is in a terrible state of affairs, which needs the attention of the people in-charge.
They will be doing injustice to the National Theatre, if they failed to take remedial action as soon as possible.
END