MUSICIANS NOT HAPPY WITH GHAMRO BOARD

A number of Ghanaian musicians have thrown their weight behind the call for the right structures to be put in place to aid Ghanaian musicians who only make money out of their intellectual properties through performances.

They emphasized that the industry do not only need fresh captains to manage the affairs of the Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO), a collective society, but people with required competence and commitment to push for vast improvement in the music and the creative industry.

The musicians in separate interviews with BEATWAVES after a press conference held by GHAMRO interim board at the Oak Plaza in Accra last Thursday stressed that the music industry in Ghana has not witnessed massive enhancement due to the absence of competent leadership to manage the affairs at GHAMRO.

The press conference organised by the new interim board of GHAMRO to announce the strategies the board intends to use in ensuring transparency with the affairs of the organisation.

The new GHAMRO board during the press conference disclosed that as part of building transparency, it would publish its financial statements monthly in the dailies at the office notice board and also a copy sent to Attorney General’s office and also hold stakeholders meeting in October.

The board, made up made up of Kwame Nsia Apau popularly known as Okyeame Kwame, Nana Aboagye Dacosta, Enock Agyapong, Dorothy Habadah, a representative from Copy Rights Office, and Kow Sessah Acquaye, a representative from the Attorney General’s Department, again disclosed that since it took office barely two months, it has been able to receive an amount of GH¢25,000 and saved in a Guaranty Trust bank account.

Soon after the press conference, one of the seasoned music producers and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PAPCAD Ghana Limited, Kwesi Agyapong, in an interview called on all the stakeholders in the music industry in Ghana to reject the representation of the new interim board set up some weeks ago to steer the affairs of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) for the next six months.

He said a large number of music stakeholders and the music producers associations are unhappy with the representation of the interim board, adding that the current board does not involve the stakeholders in the decision-making process of GHAMRO.

Mr Agyapong added that all stakeholders should come together and fight for their rights because the industry does not belong to only a handful of people.

The music producer with over 20 albums to his credit rubbished the press conference describing it as unnecessary and a waste of time. He also accused the President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bice Osei Kuffour, aka Obour, of using mafia tactics to destroy GHAMRO.

Some members of the Music Council of Ghana (MCG) led by its Vice President, Akosua Agyepong, also condemned the GHAMRO’s interim board for not performing to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders.

“We were thinking that the interim board was going to tells us something good that will be beneficial to all the stakeholders only to dust into the eyes of the people,” they said.

The press conference was attended by a large number of musicians like Nana Ampadu, Kojo Antwi, Ekow Mikah, Randy Nunoo, Akosua Agyapong, Ben Brako, among others.