Kobina Nketsia Chairs Museums Board

An entirely revamped membership of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) was inaugurated yesterday at the Ghana National Museum.

The twelve-member board chaired by Nana Kobina Nketsiah V, is charged with maintaining and improving Ghana's museums, monuments and national heritage sites, despite the fact that the previous board had not received any government funding for the past ten years.

Professor George P. Hagan, Chairman of the National Commission on Culture, addressed the new board and detailed the challenges they would face over the period of their service.

Currently, the GMMB has only thirty professional employees out of a total staff of three hundred and seventy four. For this reason, it will be necessary for an entirely new recruitment and training programme to be set up.

Professor Hagan also noted the need to complete the unfinished Science Museum, which he described as a "national embarrassment".

Clearly this is going to be difficult to achieve without some form of substantial funding. However, the possibility of two new World Heritage sites (the Tenzug Settlements and the Navrongo Old Catholic Cathedral in the Upper East Region) and a change in the board's structure may improve their chances of success. The previous board had recommended the GMMB be split into two separate entities - a Museums Service and a Monuments Service - and Professor Hagan asked the new board to consider this.

We can only pray these plans for the future prove plausible and effective for the future of Ghana's national heritage. This task is now in the hands of Nana Kobina Nketsiah V and the other twelve board members, listed below:

Members:

Dr. (Mrs.) Mary Botchway (Head of Department of Zoology), UCC, Cape Coast.

Mr. Boachie Ansah (Senior Lecturer Department of Archaeology), University of Ghana, Legon.

Nana Bediatuo (Apagyahene of Akyem, Abuakwa), Kyebi.

Dr. Abubakr Alhassan (Development Consultant, Development Office), University of Ghana, Legon.

Mr. Kwaku Mensah Bonsu (PR/Advertising Consultant), Primetime ltd. Accra.

Togbe Noagbesenu III (Fiaga of Awate), Awate Traditional Area, Awate.

Mr Kwesi Agbley (Tourism and Heritage Consultant), Keben & Associates ltd., P.O. Box OS 2030, Osu-Accra.

Mr. Seth Dei (Businessman/Arts Collector), Lease Afrique, Tesano, Accra.

Dr. Akosua Perbi (Head of History Department), University of Ghana, Legon.

There are also two Ex-Officio members: a representative of the National Commission on Culture, and the Director of the GMMB, Accra.