Selassie Ibrahim shares the interesting reason she can't enter politics

Selassie Ibrahim has drawn a sharp line between herself and the political arena, revealing that her blunt honesty makes her unfit for a world where pretence often thrives. Her honesty, the very quality that has earned her both admiration and criticism, is the same thing that would make political life impossible for her.

During a candid and emotionally charged conversation on Hitz FM with Doreen Avio and Kwame Dadzie, the veteran filmmaker did not hold back as she revisited one of her greatest frustrations: the collapse of Ghana’s once-thriving film industry. Selassie argued that local television stations have played a central role in its downfall by favouring cheap foreign films over quality Ghanaian productions.

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“They destroyed the industry,” she declared bluntly. “They would rather go to the Spanish market and buy 20-year-old telenovelas and dub them in Twi.”

She added that, although she had previously expressed these concerns and had been heavily criticised for doing so, she would continue speaking out for the sake of Ghanaian filmmakers.

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Selassie lamented that both broadcasters and some members of the public appear to undervalue home-grown content:

“These TV stations and some Ghanaians don’t like supporting their own,” she said. She added that there are moments when she wonders whether filmmakers have somehow offended viewers or broadcasters. “We don’t know how to celebrate our own.”

Her reflections naturally led her to address her stance on politics. Known for her forthrightness and unwillingness to sugar-coat her opinions, she explained that the political arena demands a kind of pretence she simply does not possess.

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“That’s why I won’t even get into politics, I don’t know how to pretend,” she remarked. “I say things as they are. I can’t do politics because I can’t look at something yellow and call it red.”

For Selassie Ibrahim, truth is non-negotiable, and in a world where politics often rewards ambiguity, she stands firm in choosing integrity over ambition.

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