GHAMRO UNDER PRESSURE TO ELECT SUBSTANTIVE EXECUTIVES

Pressure is once again mounting at the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) where displeased members have intensified their call on the leadership to hold election and pave way for a permanent administration.

The Spectator Agoro is reliably informed that the current 14-member Board was constituted almost two years ago at the birth of the organization and given a one-year mandate to oversee its affairs and subsequently hold elections to elect a permanent Board.

However, two years down the line, the Board has yet to hold fresh elections that would pave way for a new administration.

GHAMRO received the certification to operate as a collective society for Ghanaian musicians on December 23, 2011, replacing the erstwhile Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) which was supervised by the Attorney-General.

The organization has since been rocked by internal agitations which have crippled the realization of the expectations of some member. The payment and administration of royalties due members have particularly featured in such wranglings.

This is not the first time the conduct of elections and the formation of a permanent Board have come up. In recent past, some key figures, including one-time members of the interim Board, have all called for elections but to no avail.

Two celebrated Highlife musicians, Rex Omar and Charles Amoah, who, hitherto, were members of the Board, resigned their positions earlier this year and cited the issue about the election as part of their reasons.

Election Coming?
Amakyi Dede Highlife legends Nana Kwame Ampadu and Abrantie Amakye Dede, among others, have all shared similar sentiments in the past, among a host of stakeholder forums where the issue has come up.

Nonetheless, latest information available to the Spectator Agoro indicates that, the Board may finally be holding the election in the coming weeks – either in December or early 2014.

A source told this reporter that the issue came up strongly during a recent meeting of the board held on Friday, September 20, and attended by all its members, with the exception of Amandzeba Nat Brew, a deputy Chairman, who had travelled.

Present were the Chairman, Carlos Sakyi; deputy chair K.K Kabobo, Mary Ghansah, Kojo Antwi, Mark Okreku-Mantey, Abebe (please, add the rest….)

The Spectator Agoro will keep you posted on emerging developments, including an exclusive story on ‘candidates’ who have nursed ambitions to vie for the chairman’s seat.
Source: Asomasi Kwaku Poku