The clock is ticking, the creative sector is girding up for the industry’s thought-leadership event dubbed MANIFESTO DEBATE ON CREATIVE ECONOMY. 

On September 14, 2024, all stakeholders of Ghana’s tourism, arts and culture will be gathered in the studio of Joy Prime for the 5th edition of Joy FM’s Showbiz Roundtable.

This season, Joy FM is offering platform for political parties to present their policy ideas on Ghana’s creative economy. 

The Manifesto Debate on Creative Economy will air live on Joy FM and Joy Prime on September 14, 2024, from 2 PM to 6 PM.

The event hosted by Kwame Dadzie, produced by Philip Nai and Anita Teye, is powered by Showbiz A-Z, your most authoritative entertainment talk show in Ghana.

Speaking for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be Sadiq Abdullai Abu (NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Okaikoi Central Constituency) and Rex Owusu Marfo (Member of NDC Manifesto Committee).

From the camp of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will be the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey and the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Akwasi Agyeman. 

In this article, we get up close with one of the speakers for the NPP, Hon. Mark Okraku-Mantey.

About Mark Okraku-Mantey 

Hon. Mark Okraku-Mantey is the Deputy Minister for Tourism Arts and Culture, (MOTAC). Before his appointment as the Deputy Minister, he was the acting Creative Arts Council President where he engaged creative practitioners across the country vis a vis soliciting their inputs to facilitate the passage of the Creative Industries Bill and organising monthly Masterclasses to equip industry players on their various disciplines. He was the liaison between government and the creative industry for strategic decision making purposes. 

Okraku-Mantey from February 2014 —March 2021 was engaged by the Multimedia group as Programmes Director where he was visibly noted for his creative skills in the Development and promotion of programmes. His specialty in ensuring good content and classic entertainment in TV production led him to always confer with Chief Operations Officer and production staff to discuss issues centred on production and casting glitches, budgets, policies, and entertainment content. Known for his accuracy and conformance to the rules and regulations governing the multimedia space, he was always involved in resolving programme log inaccuracies. This he did alongside many other schedules connected to production, content generation using best practices as his bench mark. 

He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Slip Entertainment now Slip Mark Entertainment which has been in existent since 2006 till date. At Slip Mark Entertainment, Mark went into Music production, producing hit Ghanaian artist such as George Jahrah in 2006 and Nana Tuffour around 2002. In 2001, he produced Oheneba Kissi, Daasebre Gyamena in 1999 and Lord Kenya in 1998. Okraku-Mantey also was into Film and Drama Executive Productions with Efiewura TV Series as one of his successful productions in 2001. His multi-talented nature drove him into events and programmes, notable among such events are the MTN Music Festival in 2018, Club Live which came up between 2015 — 2018, while Hi-Life Festival was seen around 2011 — 2012 and the most watched TV3 Mentorship programme in 2006 — 2012. 

Aside his noticeable role in the entertainment space here in Ghana, Okraku- Mantey took up the responsibility to ensure an enabling environment through direct and indirect support for the arts and education artistes, creative practitioners and organisations. He led in the coordination and facilitation activities of artistes and creative practitioners, organisations, government and cultural agencies nationally and internationally. Mark has been at the forefront in ensuring the growth of the creative industry nationally and internationally through partnership and industry development assistance that facilitated pathways to commercialisation and innovation. He also worked to ensure the removal of barriers to market access by practitioners in the creative industry. He was instrumental in the effective organisation and management of the creative industry. 

The Deputy Minister served on the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) Board, the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) and that of Copyrights Society of Ghana (COSGA). He had his basic education at the Datus Preparatory School (Bubuashie) from 1980-1986, then proceeded to St Augustine's College in Cape Coast where he had his ordinary and advanced levels in education in 1986-1991 and 1991-1993 respectively. 

His Tertiary education earned him a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the Central University College and later acquired his Executive Masters in leadership & Governance from the same university.