Censorship Of Films

I am a regular patron of Mercedes Benz Sprinter buses among others which ply the Accra- Kumasi route.I believe that as a source of entertainment and perhaps to keep passengers 'alive' and more particularly to lure passengers' to board these vehicles, video screens have been installed therein to show films particularly local ones.

I must say the quality and content of some of the films shown therein leaves much to be desired-profanity, obscenity, ethnocentric, derogatory remarks, name them.

The last straw was a film I watched in one of these buses last week which made not only mockery of the epileptic disease but used such unprintable and unspeakable words to portray the disease.

Amazingly almost all the passengers therein enjoyed same amidst laughter and none saw anything wrong with the comments- I asked myself, where has the Ghanaian moral values gone to, have we stoop so low to make mockery of diseases people carry through no fault of theirs? What, if there was an epileptic patient on board?

On a more serious note, don't we have laws to control the contents of films churned out into the public domain?- What are the bodies charged with same notably the Ministries of Information, Communication, Chieftaincy & Culture among others doing to arrest this canker which is creeping gradually to destroy our time tested and cherished social values.

As stated earlier, this phenomena, I believe, is in its embryonic stage, and implore the agencies charged with same to take the necessary steps to bring sanity into the industry before it gains root.

Nor is it all for the various transport organizations also have a role to play through sensitizing their members to avoid such films but in the long run the buck stops with the statutory mandated bodies who are charged with same.

I trust someone is listening.

Sincerely yours,

Prince Owusu Attah

& Osei Kwabena