THE month of March has been officially declared Ghana Month with the populace expected to celebrate everything that makes the country unique including our food, clothes and even tourist attractions.
However, host of Duvet on GHOne TV, Nancy Adoboe, popularly known as Ms Nancy, is unhappy that celebrities are not doing enough to project the country.
According to her, celebrities are supposed to champion this act because they have people who look up to them but they are not doing what they are supposed to do.
“It is a good thing that we have a month like this but it is worrying when the people who are supposed to help project everything Ghana, those who are in the limelight are not doing the most.
“I think our celebrities are not doing enough to project our African prints, for instance; when you attend events, you can handpick those who grace the occasion in the beautiful African prints we have here. This observation is not only limited to this month.
“What we wear represents our heritage; let us go back to those days when ladies would have African prints styled in kaba and slit in their wardrobes, not what we see today. Even if it is the style that our celebs are not comfortable with, the African print can always be made in contemporary styles.
“Look at someone like our former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, she is one person who has helped to project our prints. She can wear it to any place in designs including evening gowns to suit that particular occasion, but the young ones today don’t do that.
“Another person I would also give the thumbs up to is singer Efya, she does well. When she is performing, she makes sure she has a touch of the African print in her costumes and it is good. They should learn to take advantage of platforms they mount and project Ghana,” she told Graphic Showbiz last Tuesday.
Ms Nancy also expressed her dissatisfaction with how Ghanaians now copy from our West African neighbours.
“Another worrying thing is that even those who want to wear African prints end up copying from our sister countries by wearing styles that are identifiable with them, are we helping the situation?
“No, we cannot grow like this. This is all we have. These things are our heritage, they tell our stories. So how about what is identifiable with us as Ghanaians?”, she queried.
Ms Nancy also urged Ghanaian designers to do more to boost Ghanaian culture. “They need to step up their game and bring their designs home though there are some who are trying.”
Asked what she was doing on her part to promote Ghana, she answered: “I am working on a number of things and I would want my colleagues to come on board.
“Maybe, I will nominate myself as an ambassador. My birthday is coming up so I will wear African print styled to suit the themes for my birthday shoot. We can do beautiful things with our prints, we are just not seeing it and it is worrisome,” she concluded.
