Upper East Region needs a gallery – Curator

Mr Francis Cofie Ayi Amu, the Curator of the Upper East Regional Museum, has appealed to government to construct a gallery for the regional museum.

He said the gallery is a significant component of the museum and would create enough space to admit the large number of visitors who patronize the museum each day.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, Mr Amu said the museum is the legal custodian of the material culture of every region as it collects history, culture and the ethnography of the people.

He said museums are very important in each society as it creates the opportunity for people to study their past and thereby shape their futures but the regional museum which was supposed to serve the Northern Region had no gallery and that made it difficult to contain all the people who toured the place.

“The museum is a non-profit making institution which aims at promoting culture. We work with material culture, history and ethnography of the people and a visit to the museum sends the mind of a person back to the past and helps shapes the person’s future”, he said.

Mr Amu said the museum has collaborated with some universities, non-governmental organizations and the Ghana Tourist Board to carry out outreach programmes to schools and communities to educate and advertise the cultural heritage of the region.

He expressed concern over the lack of infrastructure and resources saying it was a hindrance to the discharge of its duties of preserving, conserving and promoting the tangible culture of the region.

Mr Amu said, “The numeration and condition of service of the staffs has not been the best and this has led many to branch to different fields and those who have gone on retirement had not been replaced. We do not also have the means of transport to carry out our outreach programmes and other activities of the museum.”

The Municipal Curator called on the government, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MOTCA) and all stakeholders to help the museum to build the gallery and other needed infrastructure to ensure smooth operations at the museum.

Source: GNA