A number of seasoned Ghanaian musicians who are not happy with activities of the Interim Copyright Management Team (ICMT) tasked to manage the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA), have called on the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to appoint competent personalities with managerial skills to manage COSGA.
The musicians, in addition called for a probe into the activities of all those tasked to manage the operations at COSGA.
They alleged that since COSGA was established in 1992, it had never gone to the polls to elect competent executives to run the society, adding that the society, since its inception, had been managed by interim committees which contributed to the collapse of the society.
The musicians declared that they had lost total interest in the current Interim Copyright Management Team (ICMT) of COSGA, saying they were not satisfied with its activities.
One of the seasoned musicians, Dan Amakye Dede, who could not hide his feelings about the lapses at COSGA, told BEATWAVES that the activities and utterances of certain members of the ICMT was creating division among the stakeholders.
He said, “Things must change as soon as possible”, and called on all Ghanaian musicians to come together and work as a team to build a solid foundation for the industry.
Amakye Dede was peeved when he pointed out that the musicians had every legal right to know the total amount of money collected on their behalf by COSGA. He also added that the criteria used in the distribution of royalties should be made public.
He called on the government to dissolve the ICMT of COSGA to pave way for the stakeholders to elect competent people with managerial skills to manage the society.
The highlife music icon called on the interim administration which was put in place last year to account for its stewardship, claiming it was constituted last year, by former Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu, as a temporary measure to streamline operations at COSGA.
The administration, he said, distributed royalties to members last year without telling the members the total amount collected from various music users such as hotels, spinners, night club operators, among others; a practice the aggrieved music icon said was in contrast with the previous arrangement where all revenues were declared for the perusal of members.
The highlife music icon disclosed that those who agitated for the removal of Sidiku Buari and other members of the former COSGA board had woefully failed after they were given the mandate to manage COSGA.
Amakye Dede voiced out his grievances and displeasure about the incapability of the Attorney General to dissolve the Interim Copyright Management Team (ICMT), which had failed to ensure transparency and accountability in the sector, as well as promote peace among the players in the music industry.
He declared that he and a few others would not sit unconcerned for a handful of stakeholders to destroy the music industry.
According to him, since they had contributed towards the progress of the Ghanaian music industry, it was their duty to check and monitor the activities of those who had been given the mandate to manage the affairs of COSGA.
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