Renowned music producer and Lynx Group CEO Richie Mensah has issued a candid critique of Ghana’s creative industry. He asserted that the sector lacks the unity, professionalism, and economic impact needed to secure meaningful government support.
Speaking in a recent interview with Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, Richie dismissed the common expectation that government should automatically support the arts, insisting instead that such support must be earned through proven results and value creation.
“I say all the time that leave government alone, leave associations alone. Leave everybody alone and do what you can do. He who embarks on a worthy cause deserves a push,” he said.
The Lynx Entertainment boss acknowledged receiving support at various stages of his own career, but stressed that it only came after he demonstrated clear potential and results.
“You see I have mentioned earlier that as much as I have had a lot of challenges, I have also had a lot of support. But every support I have received in my life has been earned. I wasn’t given the support in vacuum. I was given the support because I proved it, that if you support me it’s worth your time and money,” he explained.
Richie observed that the Ghanaian creative sector’s struggle to attract state investment boils down to poor organisation and a limited demonstration of economic value.
“The reason government won’t support creative arts is because it’s not worth their time. Let’s be very honest. You have artistes and media people standing there talking about ‘do this for me, do this for us, we deserve this, we are so entitled, stop talking,” he said.
Drawing a comparison with the U.S., Richie highlighted how American lawmakers support the entertainment industry because of its substantial contribution to national income, not sentiment.
“California has a higher GDP than Texas. This means in US entertainment is bringing in more money than oil. So when you see the US government support entertainment, when you see them pass laws to help entertainment, how LA has laws that favour its own writers and everything, it’s not because the President or the Minister likes music, because they understand that it is making them enough money to invest in other things,” he noted.
He stressed the dysfunction within Ghana’s creative space, pointing to in-fighting, lack of coordination, and fractured relationships as barriers to progress.
“When we can’t get our act right, who do we want to support us? When we are doing things the way we are supposed to. We can’t even organise enough. And I don’t even mean an association. If you put five artistes in Ghana together, two of them have beef. If you are organising an event right now, the vendors have beef with each other, media houses have beef with each other. We can’t even get our part right,” the popular producer posited.
Richie, whose influence has shaped the careers of top acts like KiDi, Kuami Eugene, and MzVee, has also ventured beyond music into film, television, and authorship. His recently released book, Yes, It’s Your Fault, focuses on taking responsibility and mastering professional growth, a philosophy clearly echoed in his critique of the industry.
Watch his statement below.
