The African Content Producers’ Conference, which was scheduled for June this year at the Accra International Conference Center, has been postponed indefinitely. This is in line with the president of Ghana’s directive to cancel all international and local conferences for the next four weeks as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The African Content Producers’ conference was supposed to bring together filmmakers, authors, musicians, poets, scriptwriters, bloggers, etc. to brainstorm ways of changing the bad image that is associated with the continent of Africa.
The President of the Africa Chamber of Content Producers, Dwomo-Doyen Benjamin, expressed sadness at the new development. He however, noted that the health of the citizens come first before anything.
“My team and I had prepared adequately for this conference which is the first of its kind in the Africa. We had sent an invitation to dignitaries like the President of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Strive Masiyiwa, Akon, high commissioners of embassies and a lot of important people and they had received it gladly” he said.
“We were in the act of doing publicity about the conference when the COVID-19 came to Ghana and we had to put a stop to all our activities. We, therefore, want to do the same publicity we did when we were promoting the conference to tell your readers who might have made their mind to attend to pause. A later date for the conference will be communicated as and when the COVID-19 subside. Right now, our focus is to inform Africans what they can do to prevent the spread of this COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, I have directed my communication team to come out with various communique that will inform the citizens of Ghana and Africa on the various measures they can put in place to prevent the spread of the virus” he added.
The Africa Content Producers’ Conference is not the only conference that has been canceled. Several other conferences in Ghana and across the world has been canceled. It is not yet known when a vaccine will be made available to curb this COVID-19, but we are hoping it will be soon so that things will return to normal.
The Vice-President of the African Chamber of Producers, Mr. George Egeh, also added that he never foresaw things will escalate to this manner. “I am flabbergasted at the rate this COVID-19 has taken Ghanaians and Africans by storm. I never imagined that this conference could be postponed indefinitely because of the COVID-19. My outfit and I had planned out this conference in detail and we thought it will go on as planned. Therefore, when President Akufo-Addo gave the directive that all conferences needed to be canceled, I was taken aback. However, like the President of the Chamber said, right now we are much concerned about the safety and health of Africans. Therefore, I am leading the task force that will be coming out with unique publications about what we can do to limit the impact of the COVID-19.”
The Director of Communications for Frankophone Africa of the Chamber, Mr. Michael Thampsy, also added his voice to this new development. He said, “I was very excited about the conference. As such, I had done so much publicity within the francophone countries and they were excited as me to come join heads with anglophone Africa to brainstorm ways of changing the negative narrative that most people have about Africa. Hence, when the decision came that
the Conference be postponed indefinitely, I was also saddened. However, I am looking forward to the new date that the Executive Council of the Chamber will come out with and my outfit and I will be as eager as before to make it a big and wonderful event.”
As and when a new date for the conference become available, we will keep you updated. Until then, stay safe.
