The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts & Culture (MoTAC), Mark Okraku Mantey, has encouraged creatives to be bold and enter into the world of politics.

Strength in numbers

The more creatives there are in politics, he argued, the more effective and influential they would be in causing desired changes in the industry. He recalled a time a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a creative, Dzifa Gomashie, gave him a hand while he was defending a MoTAC budget in parliament.

"I went to parliament to defend the ministry's budget and when Dzifa Abla Gomashie entered, she said she wanted to sit by me. She sat by me, said she had been there before, and that the budget wouldn't suffice so they should add some to it. And the people were surprised, asking, ‘Is that not an NDC person?’ And she said, ‘It is the industry we are fighting for’,” Mark Okraku Mantey narrated.

“So she is NDC but because we understand something that maybe the rest of them wouldn't understand, NDC and NPP merged on the day and we got some good results. And so we need more people [creatives] to come on board," he added.

| Actress and MP for Ketu South Dzifa Abla Gomashie

Of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Okraku Mantey intimated engaging in politics could be two folds: being bold to campaign for a politician one believes in or becoming a politician oneself. Speaking to Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, he explained he had done both and challenged the notion doing so holds detrimental consequenses to creatives.

"I never saw that. I became a politician through Akufo-Addo as a candidate. Note, before A Plus and I started this agenda for candidate Akufo-Addo [2008], creative people were scared to show their faces for politics. Jewel Ackah was somehow a peripheral politician. He didn't want to show his face, he only did music, he did business,” Mark Okraku Mantey said.

He stressed, “If you manage yourself well, position yourself well as a brand,” you will thrive despite publicly declaring your political stance.

"I spoke with some companies that I used to work with. I said you guys because I am now in politics you wouldn't want to work with me. They said when I am done with politics, I should come and that they are ready to still do business with me," the former music executive added.