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Hope in sight for Cultural Policy

 

The Chichiri Museum one of the places to be rehabilitated
The Chichiri Museum one of the places to be rehabilitated

A recent announcement by Malawi President Joyce Banda that Malawi will have its own Culture and Film Policy gives hope to artists in the country who seem to have been fighting the Cultural Policy battle for some time.

Most artist meetings held in the country will allude to the fact that development in the arts sector stalls due to lack of an enabling policy.

For instance, a recent Ministry of Tourism and Culture consultative meeting with festival organisers in order to ensure that there is harmony in holding of festivals and that a national festival calendar be created, also noted the need to have a Cultural Policy.

Artists like Stanley Onjezani Kenani argue that government does not feel the need to hasten establishment of a Cultural Policy although the arts if well nurtured contribute significantly to a country’s economy.

“Writers like J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown and others in the United Kingdom and United States have made a lot of money from their writings, and we are talking about millions of dollars, which points to the fact that arts, if well nurtured, can have a significant economic impact on the nation,” said Kenani.

He argues that involvement in the arts has the advantage to increase opportunities for self-expression and enjoyment, reduce delinquency in high-risk youth and improve individuals sense of belonging or attachment to a community.

“For all these to be achieved, we need a government policy that creates a framework within which our cultural institutions such as the Malawi Writers Union, the Musicians Association of Malawi, the Visual Artists Association and others can work. In short, we need government support to nurture the talent we have in the country, so that Malawi should compete favourably on the international arena with respect to arts and culture,” said Kenani.

In an interview Ministry of Tourism and Culture spokesperson Chrissy Chiumia explained that there is hope that Malawi will soon have a Cultural Policy.

“At the moment we are putting together the document that has to be in two parts: the framework and the implementation plan for the policy. After that we will have to take the draft to the Principal Secretaries before we can take it to Cabinet,” she explained.

Africa Film Academy chief executive officer Peace Anyiam Osigwe said the president gave her organisation assurance that Malawi would soon have Film and Cultural policies in place.

Chiumia explained that indeed the process to formulate a cultural policy is ongoing and dates as far back as the year before Malawi attained its independence.

According to Chiumia, in 1963 Government decided to promote and develop Sports and Culture.

However, 49 years after independence Malawi is still talking about formulating a Cultural Policy.

The spokesperson explained that the formulation of the current draft started in the 1980s and that was never submitted to Cabinet until 2004 and the policy had to be redrafted because Malawi ratified two Unesco conventions.

The policy aims to preserve and protect the vibrant Malawian culture for national identity, unity in diversity and sustainable socio-economic development.

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