Socrate Safo reveals he discovered his removal as Culture Commission director unexpectedly and says he feels unfairly treated by the NPP.
Veteran filmmaker and New Patriotic Party (NPP) member Socrate Safo has detailed how he was removed from his role as Director of the National Commission on Culture, describing a moment that left him completely blindsided.
According to him, the first time he learned about his replacement was when an unfamiliar visitor arrived at his office carrying an official appointment letter.
“I went to the office on a fine Wednesday. I went to a programme, I got back, and there was the director for planning and monitoring, who came to my office and said an elderly woman had been here. She said she’s been appointed as the new director. He told her we have one here. She said, well, she has a letter,” Safo recounted on the ‘Gentlemen and Gentlemen’ podcast with Arnold Asamoah Baidoo.
When pressed on whether he believed the NPP had treated him fairly, he was direct in his response.
“To be straight, I’ll say no. I wasn’t treated fairly.”
Despite his disappointment, Safo maintained that his allegiance to the party remains unchanged.
“My party, right or wrong, I will stand by my party. What hurts is the fact that I couldn’t fix the challenges of this industry because I wasn’t given the opportunity,” he said.
He explained that his frustration goes beyond the manner of his exit or even the fact that he worked without receiving a salary. For him, the deeper regret is the unfinished mission of improving an industry he has long been committed to.
Safo also reflected on what pushed him into active politics, tracing it back to years of frustration from meetings with government officials he felt lacked real understanding of the creative arts space.
He pointed to James Agyenim Boateng and Stan Dogbe as notable exceptions, describing them as individuals who showed genuine interest in the sector.
“He was going around with us physically on sets. I realised that he’s doing so because he understands the industry, because he’s from the industry. That is why I took an interest in getting into politics,” he explained.
Reflecting on it, Safo said his appointment gave him hope of finally influencing meaningful reforms in Ghana’s creative arts industry, even if that hope ultimately fell short of what he had envisioned.
