By Jeremiah Nutsugah
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has launched the March 2024 edition of Heritage Month.
The special Guest of Honour for the occasion was Chief Alhassan Andani, the former MD of Stanbic Bank. Other invited guests were Afua Asantewaa, who attempted a Sing-A-Thon in the Guinness Book of Records, and Adu Sarfowaa, who also attempted to break a Guinness Book of Records Speech-A-Thon.
GBC’s Heritage Month this year will highlight the importance of preserving our heritage in today’s digital space. Music and dance from the Ghana Dance Ensemble illuminated the colourful event.
All the dignitaries, staff of the GBC, and other patrons wore traditional attire representing the various Ghanaian cultures.
Heritage Month is organised every year in March to celebrate Ghana’s culture, heritage, and promote tourism. The month-long commemoration offers an opportunity to learn, appreciate, celebrate, and tell the story of Ghana in various ways. The month of March was chosen to commemorate Ghana’s heritage to coincide with the country’s Independence Day on March 6 and also as a way of showcasing what Ghana has.
It is a month where Ghanaians are encouraged to project and promote culture, tradition, and the Ghanaian legacy through music, dance, fashion, among others.
Director-General of GBC, Professor Amin Alhassan, said during the heritage month, GBC has never missed a single day as they have recorded and reported on what Ghanaian cultural heritage is about. Therefore, GBC sees itself not just as an organisation but as the foremost natural cultural institution.
“GBC has loyally served the country, and it’s time for Ghana to give it the attention it deserves.”
Chairman of the National Media Commission, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, urged journalists to play a key role in information analysis and dissemination on the subject of using African languages and cultures to promote education.
“With top journalistic skills, they will ensure dialogue among all stakeholders. As a journalist, I have been charged to use Ghanaian language as a tool of education in addition to English. The fact that language lies at the heart of culture cannot be ignored, and language can only survive and not be exempt when it’s written.”
Launching heritage month, the former MD of Stanbic Bank appealed to Ghanaians not to accept that our heritage is not modern, and modernity means we should bury our heritage because we cannot even tell how we measured time even before the white man came.
“All those demands meant something in the way we lived our lives, the way we cultivated the lands, and how we kept our animals.”
The launch attracted traditional authorities and security services to GBC’s forecourt, where the event took place. Locally made finger foods and drinks were displayed and sampled by all present.