Veteran actress, Akofa Edjeani Asiedu, has expressed her thoughts regarding the debates surrounding popular personalities in the creative sector, publicly endorsing political parties and their ideologies.
Speaking in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on 3FM’s Sunrise show on Friday, June 21, 2024, the actress emphasised that it is every individual’s right to affiliate with any political party of their choice, and creatives like everyone else should be free to associate with a political party of their choice, asserting that there’s nothing wrong with doing so.
“I really don’t think there is anything wrong with that because we all have our political affiliations and so if you are a creative person you feel like endorsing a party, there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said.
Akofa cited the relationship between the American showbiz industry and public figures, pointing out Oprah Winfrey, who publicly declared support for the Democrats with no consequences or name-calling attached.
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The actress claims that the petty behaviour of Ghanaians has led to a misinterpretation of the act and hatred towards artists who have chosen to align themselves with a specific political party. She noted how creatives who publicly pledged support for a political party are swiftly marginalised when the opposing party ascends to power.
“Your business suffers, everything you do, if you are not lucky and the opponent comes to power, you are dead. They will sabotage everything and anything that you do. I think it’s very unfortunate and for me, I think it’s petty,” she stated.
Recounting a past ordeal, Akorfa stated that while John Mahama was in power, she benefited from his policy that gave cars to creatives in different regions, who could not afford to purchase cars at that point in time. She said they were made to pay for the cars in instalments. However, the cars were taken away from them under Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration.
“He [John Mahama] started with 50. They gave 25 to Kumasi and the North and 25 to Accra for both actors and musicians and these are not flashy cars. I got i10. When NPP came to power, my car was taken away,” she narrated
According to her, the car was tracked down and taken away while her son was driving.
“My son was driving it, it had a tracker because we were paying for it, we had years to be paying for it. When they came to power, they tracked it, my son was driving it, they stopped him and took the car away,” she narrated.
Akorfa Edjeani is a Ghanaian actress with a career spanning over two decades. She has featured in numerous Ghanaian films since the mid-1990s. Her notable roles include a 1995 performance in “For Better For Worse” and a 2015 appearance in “The Cursed Ones”, a British-Ghanaian collaboration.
