Ghanaian record producer amd music live-wire, Edward Nana Poku Osei, known famously as Hammer of The Last Two has called on the newly appointed Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku Mantey to live up to expectations of the music industry.
According to him, the experience and skill of the Deputy Minister makes him the perfect fit for the task ahead but it will be a disappointment to the whole industry if he does not fix things before the end of his tenure.
Speaking in a radio interview on Accra-based radio station on Monday {July 12, 2021}, Hammer mentioned he was initially against the appointed of Mark Okraku Mantey as a representative for the music industry in Government but had a second thought, upon realising the trail of success he had left as music producer and executive himself.
“This is hard, to get people to listen is hard… so I’m happy Mark is finally in office… i was against Mark from the beginning totally because of past experiences… Mark is a fine gentleman however, my problem with Mark is Mark is too safe. Mark doesn’t like to step on toes. He doesn’t want to be bashed so he won’t do things that will hurt some people but if you’re in a position to serve, you have to put all things down, put your chips down when you are serving.
He continued “Mark, works for us and not there for himself so we don’t expect him to be safe, try to be safe, we expect him to go knocking on doors… breaking doors down now” he said.
Amongst other things, Hammer stated that Mark Okraku Mantey is a trustworthy person with a clean slate and does not engage in legalities to profit just himself but rather fights for the good of all.
“Mark us one of the few people from back in the day. The founders of this industry, the executive producers and gatekeepers who really started this, business wise, he is one of the few people who wasn’t engaged in visa racketeering”, he added.
Mark Okraku Mantey was a former President of the Creative Arts Council as well as Programmes Manager for Hitz FM owned by Multimedia Group of Companies.
