KUMAWOOD’S MERCY ASIEDU, THE MOTHER OF EKOW SMITH ASANTE

Mercy Asiedu a.k.a Asabia may be the mother of Ekow Smith Asante, because these two have a strong hate for the people of the Sefwi land in the Western region.

In one of Kumawood's nice movies, ''I Know my Right'' Mercy Asiedu, who was one of the antagonists, defending women's right made a derogatory statement about the people in the Western region precisely the Sefwi people, 'saying do you think my mother is in Sefwi? Where I will have to travel 3hours before I get there? My mum is right here in Ash-Town so a man cannot cheat on me'.

So what will happen to a woman, whose mother is in the Western region when the husband is cheating on her according to Asabia?

Because when you know your right you don't need your mum to come to your aid in case like this. This analogy created by the actress which the editors and producers couldn't rectify is one of the grounds on which, some people think Kumawood films are illogical, because sometimes the title of the movie has nothing to do with the acting when one juxtaposes the film with logic.

Now, for such a belittling words to come from an actress in a movie industry which seems to promote culture and traditions, call for serious questions like: do Kumawood think about using their industry to bring people together? Do the Kumasi movie producers write scripts for their actors and actresses? Thirdly and, I want to know if the movie under discussion was directored by a Ghanaian or even an African.

Because if the film was directored by a Ghanaian, he would have known better that a single movie is as powerful as a radio station and can send message of conflict between tribes and people.

Not long a go, the Educated illiterate, Ekow Smith Asante had a mouth-diarrhoea which made him vomit among other things his dislike for Kumawood movies and how uneducated he thought the people of Asankragua, Sefwi wiaso and the entire Sefwi people are.

In that Ekowliks, the actor said, ” target market for those 'inferior' movies produced in Kumasi, are people in Asankragua, Sefwi Wiaso, 'Yaw Wiaso' and other places “who do not know jack about lighting, sound, good acting and other things and they are not ready to know.”

From a constructive point of view, Ekow Asante could not be totally wrong in his utterances but what he refuses to realize was that he did stereotype in his opinion on the matter. Because first, Kumawood themselves know there are problems in the industry secondly the Ghallywood which's market target is the people in Accra, who know all about lighting, sound and all is full of nothing but nudity.

The most fallacious part of Ekow Smith Asante's analysis is that Kumawood movies are made for illiterates, which is not true because the Kumasi based films are patronised by everyone in Ghana due to it entertaining nature. If Ekow would want to prove to me, he is not ignorant and knows nothing about himself, then he should tell the world he deliberately insulted President Mahama because the President's recent comment on his facebook wall shows that the president really love and indeed follow what goes on in the Kumasi movie industry.

Now back to Asabia: am not sure mercy Asiedu need to be educated in Oxford university to know the consequences of derogatory message in the media.

As a lover of art work, I'm not doing this just to criticise Asabia but I want to draw the attention of the ever growing movie industry in Ghana to some things they take for granted which can kill the industry.

Finally Mercy Asiedu should put herself in the shoes of the people she belittled in that movie 'I Know MY Right' and see how it feels.

I'm also suggesting to Kumawood to start encourage it members learn how to read and write twi because that is what dominates in the films once that's done Ghanaians will wake up to see a more improved movie industry. Long live Kumawood, long live Ghana.

The writer is a freelance Journalist, a bloger a social and religious activist

And the C.E.O of RADIO JAM GH online
You can contact him @ [email protected]
Twitter @djfuadpe1