CARLOS BLASTS OBOUR

The leadership of Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO), a collective society for music right owners, yesterday sounded its readiness to fight persons who are trying to drag the name of the society into disrepute.

Reacting to a letter headlined ‘Need For Reforms At GHAMRO After Two And Half Years Of Operations’ sent to GHAMRO leadership by Bice Osei Kufuor, aka Obour, the leadership of GHAMRO said the letter which was in reference to the transitional provisions in GHAMRO’s constitution, was a calculated attempt by Obour and his cohorts to destabilise the operations of the collective society.

The chairman of GHAMRO, Carlos Sakyi, told BEATWAVES in an interview that “I was shocked to read Obour’s letter written to the society on the internet and various social media platforms. It is a disgrace for Obour to have done that with without waiting for GHAMRO’s response. It is sad that Obour’s letter is being circulated on the internet. It will not distract the activities of GHAMRO and its board members.”

He added that instead of Obour to wait for GHAMRO’s response to his letter, he decided to use various social media sites including Facebook to address his concerns raised in the letter, which he said, could rather disintegrate the industry.

The outspoken Carlos stressed that those who masterminded the letter written to GHAMRO by Obour have been found wanting in so many ways, adding that GHAMRO would continue in its agenda of transformation, productivity and accelerated action and give quality support to the suffering music stakeholders and any other right holder in need.

Carlos described Obour’s letter as a deliberate act to destabilise GHAMRO, and warned that GHAMRO would use all legitimate means to resist their chaotic agenda and consign them to the dustbin of history.

He further said since they took over GHAMRO, there have been consistent unjustified attacks on either the board or his image without legitimate basis through the making of false, baseless and irresponsible statements, mostly acts of defamation that have created division in the ranks of music stakeholders.

He continued that within two years in office, GHAMRO had made a lot of progress and it was only the ignorant or those blinded by selfish ambition who saw nothing positive about the gains made.

Carlos expressed worry at the attempt being made by some ungrateful people to destroy GHAMRO. He warned music stakeholders to be wary of those untrustworthy people who are seeking to create division among musicians within the group.

STOP SHOWING LOCAL MOVIES OR PAY GHC1,200

The ban on the showing of local movies in commercial buses without authorization, has taken effect.

The Film Producers’ Association of Ghana, (FIPAG), pushed for the ban, claiming the trend affects their business because patronage of their movies is seriously affected. Drivers who show local Ghanaian movies will now be arrested and made to pay up to 1,200 cedis.

Appeals by executives at the Kumasi Neoplan Station to FIPAG to reconsider its decision have been unsuccessful. The transport operators are of the view the practice rather promotes the movies and enhances patronage. President of the Film Producers’ Association of Ghana, Asare Hackman, told Kumasi-based Ultimate Radio a taskforce would be put in place to enforce compliance.

“Anytime you show a movie and collect money, then it means that you have infringed on the rights of the owner. So what needs to be done is to work out a deal with the owner before you can show the movie. What is happening with the VIP buses and the others is that, they just buy the CDs and DVDs and start showing. What we did was to send a warning to them that they should contact us or face the full rigors of the law.

“If you want to promote our movies, you can come for the trailers but they are showing the full movies which doesn’t mean they are promoting them but are just exploiting the owner. So what needs to be done is to pay royalties to the owner and you can only do that through ASSOG, because ASSOC is an audio visual agency established by the state to collect royalties on behalf of owners”.

“We have put a monitoring team together and we are waiting for the green light from ASSOG and if they come over and broker a deal between us and the drivers, then we will issue them with our stickers. We will then go to every terminal and on the highways to arrest all those who don’t have our stickers but are showing the movies”.

An executive at the Neoplan Station in Kumasi, Francis Asamoah, told Ultimate Radio they have no option than to ask drivers to show only Nigerian movies and those from other countries.

“They came here to warn us so we also put up a notice warning our drivers not to show those movies. We have been told we will be made to pay a spot fine of about GHC1200. They even said some of the drivers were using pen drives full of movies instead of buying the CDs and DVDs”.

But some drivers of long distance buses who spoke to Ultimate Radio said they were unhappy with the directive.

“I disagree with them because I bought the CDs and I use it to entertain my passenger so if they want us to stop, then they will lose. They should find an alternative solution to their problems because this will not help all of us” a driver noted.

“I have more than 50 CDs in my vehicle and how will people get to know about a particular movie If they do not watch the movies” another wondered.

“I disagree because we buy the CDs before showing the movies. It helps the passengers and even boosts the driver’s confidence when driving. If they want us to stop, then they should also tell radio stations to stop playing local songs because people may not buy the CDs” an infuriated driver retorted.

WOMAN JAILED FOR DUPING AGYA KOO

The protracted tussle between Agya Koo and his 23-year-old secretary and sales girl has finally ended.

The lady at the centre of the case, Cecilia Tandoh, has been convicted by the Kumasi Metropolitan Court and sentenced to 30 days imprisonment in hard labour on a charge of stealing.

The presiding judge, Mr William Boampong, advised Agya Koo, who is the complainant in the case, to resort to civil action to retrieve his money after the lady has finished serving her sentence.

The convict’s plea of not guilty was not accepted and was sentenced after witnesses were called.

Briefing the court on the facts of the case, Police Chief Guilliver Tenkorang said that about four years ago Agya Koo employed the lady as the manager of his company, Tetemmofra Film and Movie Industry at Bantama in Kumasi.

The prosecution said Agya Koo opened a bank account and asked the lady to pay all proceeds from the company into that account.

He said things were moving smoothly at the beginning and Agya Koo travelled out of the country for six months.

On his return, the prosecution said Agya Koo checked his account, only to realise that no money had been paid into the account, and all efforts to get the secretary to explain proved futile.

At that point, Agya Koo went to the shop to take stock, after which he realised that almost all the goods in the shop had been sold.

He called his suppliers, who confirmed having delivered goods ranging from GHC2,800 to GHC4,000 but had received no returns. His personal investigations revealed that the lady had opened four separate accounts in her name and diverted money into them.

He made a report to the police, who arrested her and after investigation was put before the court.

D2 APOLOGIZES TO DJ ARMANI

Hiplife group ‘Dynamic Duo’ popularly known as ‘D’2 Monday apologized to DJ Armani on Hitz Fm Showbiz Review.

The ‘Fever” hit by the group which has been nominated in the best group category in this year`s Ghana music awards alongside R2Bees, 4X4 and Ruff & Smooth was criticized by Dj Armani saying that they did not deserve to be nominated for this year’s VGMAs but they were only added to the best group category just to increase the number of artistes in the category during the diaries of this year`s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards hosted by Amanda on GhOne.

D2  were alleged to have insulted Dj Armani right after watching the diaries. The group also made it clear that the message was sent to him personally on his phone and also had a response from Armani saying that they are silly to send such messages to him and asking  if they have forgotten that he (Armani) made them perform at the December to Remember show.

 

Genesis admitted that he was offended on hearing such comments from the DJ and therefore called him many times without any responses which led to such reactions by sending distasteful message to his phone.

 

He apologized to Armani saying “I’m sorry if the message sounded as an insult to you but we only reacted upon hearing such comments."

 

During the squabble on Hitz FM, Armani also stated that he doesn’t remember using the name ‘surplus’ but only stated that D2 has a very good song but are not ready yet for nominations and  then went ahead to apologize to the group saying that he was sorry if he also said anything to upset them.