Madam Catherine Afeku is one of the ministers affected by the recent reshuffle by President Akufo Addo.
Madam Afeku is now a Minister of State assigned to the Office of the President. She’ll be working under the Senior Minister.
Jetsanza.com cannot confidently report that the removal of Catherine Afeku was a response to the numerous calls by industry players to have her removed. There could be other issues best known to the President as many have argued that though her performance may not be the best, she has started many projects that she had to complete.
Let’s take a look at some of the notable people who called for her removal or were not happy with her performance.
An opinion post shared on Asembi.com gave loads of reasons for her immediate removal. Check the link below to read:
https://asembi.com/reasons-why-the-tourism-minister-should-be-sacked-immediately/
Austine Woode
If you are reading from Kumasi, Austine Woode is no new name to you. He’s the host of Kumasi based Abusua FM’s ‘Abusua Entertainment Show’. Austine Woode called on the president as a matter of urgency to fire Madam Catherine Afeku for saying that members of the creative arts in Kumasi should go and consult and make some valuable inputs to the contractor who has been charged with the task of refurbishing the Kumasi Cultural Center to give it a befitting facelift.
Prince David Osei
Actor Prince David Osei said Catherine Afeku failed to make any impact on the country’s creative arts industry since her appointment.
He told Nana Adwoa Sarkodie on Citi TV. This is all what he said:
“Forget about the Ministry of Tourism. The Minister of Tourism has failed the industry, that’s what I keep saying I don’t know what the one in charge is doing. We felt like they coming into office would help, but they’ve not done anything remarkable that I have seen or felt so I think the Ministry is not doing well.”
“You need to come up with ideas. You need to make sure the right structures are there. You need to make Ghana a gateway for tourism. Most of us travel outside, others have not traveled outside before, but they can visualize how New York looks like because they’ve seen it on TV.
“That’s what Hollywood does. We need to open our sector, the movie industry should be the mouthpiece that will sell Ghana, through our movie making. Ever since they came into power, tell me one remarkable thing they’ve done.”
Enoch Agyapong
Enoch Agyapong is a popular Entertainment critic. He recently made headlines after Bola Ray arrested him for making some allegations against him.
Enoch Agyapong described the minister as a failure and incompetent. He told Prince Kwesi Dadzie aka Mr Handsome on GH Entertainment on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm that, the minister should have been removed from office long time ago.
In his view, the minister has exhibited high sense of incompetence and lacks what it takes to manage the creative arts ministry.
Enoch was shocked to hear of the appointment of actor Bill Asamoah as a tourism ambassador without an assessment of the work done by the previous ambassadors appointed a year ago.
A Plus
From her own NPP party comes controversial Kwame A Plus.
A Plus descended on Madam Catherine Afeku for contributing to the AFRIMA awards held in Ghana.
Below is what he told Andy Dosty on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM:
“you spend 4.5 million dollars yet you don’t even have venues to hold concerts. The people who advised the President were wrong because who will advise the president to build a cathedral, why? People like Catherine Afeku don’t have any policy to do anything…”
“Who is AFRIMA? I hear it belongs to some Nigerians and some people. Otchere-Darko said he watched ten movies and was depressed. Shirly Frimpong-Manso has done so much to sustain the industry and you have a minister who brings AFRIMA here and they give you award to boost tourism? What are tourists coming to look for in Ghana? Motorway doesn’t even have lights. We have to keep our priorities right”.
Madam Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare
NDC’s Madam Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, the former Minister of Tourism also had something to say.
This is what she told Naa Ashorko in an interview on Showbiz A-Z:
“Under my tenure as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts with the Honorable Gifah Gomashie as my Deputy under His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, a lot of good things actually happened to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts.
“The Film Act was passed. You know from Kwame Nkrumah’s time nothing had been done to the film law and you also know that a lot of things had gone on in the industry that needed a review of that law, happily under our tenure, that Film Act saw the light of day.
“We set up a fund for the film industry, not only did we set up a fund, we actually put in money and the money was actually disbursed to beneficiaries. Creative arts fund and monies were given to Culture Forum to disburse. We disbursed ₵1 million and we were supposed to give them another ₵1 million.
“Also, we all know that government appointees have had the desire to have a clear vision but probably they didn’t know how to go about it. Fortunately Excellence John Dramani Mahama returns was very active in keeping the beaches clean so he came up with the Marine Drive Development Project, under that project from the Osu Castle to Baden Powell was to be serviced and given out for people to do hotels, parks, children playgrounds and all the good things you can think of. We were able to secure the land by legislative executive instrument all those lands were acquired for.
“I will say they have four years. I have not seen much yet but I hope that in the next two years they will be able to catch up. There isn’t much I can speak about…
“… I keep on saying the things that we did that have not been continued but maybe when we come back in 2021, we will be able to do a proper assessment of what is happening”.
Halifax Ansah Addo
Halifax Ansah Addo is the Public Relations Officer of Zylofon Cash and Managing Editor of the Publisher newspaper. He described Catherine Afeku as the “weakest link in the current government”.
He an open letter to Catherine Afeku, Halifax told her that she only does talk, talk, talk, talk, with very insignificant or mostly no work to show.
Read his full letter below:
https://citinewsroom.com/2018/10/17/halifax-writes-afeku-is-the-weakest-link-in-nana-addos-government/
Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo
Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo is the Head of Communications for Zylofon Music. Looks like everyone at Zylofon wasn’t satisfied with Catherine Afeku’s performance despite their boss Nana Appiah Mensah having a good relationship with the minister.
Arnold cried for help after President Akufo Addo failed in getting assistance from Madam Afeku to answer a question on the establishment of a theatre in Kumasi during the President’s ‘Meet The Press’. According to Arnold, “the Afeku the Prez. was referring to was partying at that time; drinking, eating and dancing at the same time when Ghanaians were tuned in, hoping for sane answers on how the Country is being managed”.
Arnold said Catherine Afeku was confusing and conning Ghanaians, especially those in the creative arts sector.
Now the cries …
People who were not happy with Catherine Afeku are mostly those in the creative arts sector but looks like not all of them are happy with her removal.
Kwame Dadzie
Kwame Dadzie of Citi TV in series of posts on Facebook reminded people of how they campaigned for the minister to be removed.
Kwame think this is a wrong move and rather wished the deputy Minister Ziblim was rather removed.
He posted: “I am sure those who always campaigned for Afeku to be axed are happy but folks this is a wrong move. They should have taken Ziblim out and brought in a Deputy who would buoy Afeku up. Looks like we are going to start all over again!”
Kwame is very worried that we have to start all over again.
David Mawuli
David Mawuli owns Ghanafuo.com and also the Entertainment Editor of Pulse.com.gh. David seems to be satisfied with Madam Afeku’s performance and not happy that she has been reshuffled.
He said: “Yes, I disagreed with Hon. Catherine Afeku on some issues in the tourism and creative arts sector. But to be honest, she really worked and didn’t deserve to be reshuffled. I see this reshuffling as experimental — not based on performance.”
Many others are shocked of her removal but these are the few notable ones. More people are expected to share their views this morning on the various entertainment shows on radio.
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