Carlos Sakyi
A number of Ghanaian musicians and music producers have mounted pressure on members of the interim board of the newly-certified Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), a royalty collective society for musicians and owners of creative works within the music industry, to organize elections to elect a substantive board to manage the affairs of the society.
They have given the board members of GHAMRO 90 days to organize elections to elect a substantive board to replace the old board, failure of which would inform their next line of action.
Meanwhile, the board of trustees and entire membership of the Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GAPI), who are also not happy about the turn of events, have recommended that the term of the interim board of GHAMRO should not exceed 90 days before congress is held.
In a letter signed and issued in Accra by the national chairman of the association, Ken Opoku Asiedu, to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, GAPI noted that its recommendations should be considered so as to allow a smooth transition of power from the interim GHAMRO board toward the election of a substantive board that would oversee the smooth running of the Collective Management Organization (CMO).
The association again recommended the formation of two committees to oversee the elections and revision of the draft constitution for eventual adoption by the congress on the day of the election.
It stated that consultants should be hired to assist the interim board put administrative structures in place before handing over to the substantive board after the election.
It also called on the Interim Copyright Management Team (ICMT) overseeing the operations of the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA), which has been replaced by GHAMRO, to render accounts.
The association however thanked all the stakeholders for working tirelessly towards the issuance of the license which now allowed stakeholders to have a collective management organisation.
But Rex Omar and members of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) are of the view that since GHAMRO now has a valid certificate to operate, it does not make sense to continue operating with an interim board for an unspecified term, when there can be elections to elect competent people to operate the organization.
BEATWAVES gathered some musicians have threatened to take legal action or stage a massive demonstration against the interim board if it continued to cling on to power.
It would be recall that a few weeks ago, Carlos Sekyi and Rex Omar clashed over the same issue on Peace FM’s ‘Entertainment Review’ when their exchanges went overboard and even degenerated into insults.
Kwasi Aboagye, host of the programme, had to end the discussion abruptly at a point when none of them was ready to listen and both of them were interrupting each other needlessly.
Rex Omar noted that “GHAMRO takes its powers from the members and the members have not gone for elections to elect anybody, they are an interim body. So any time Carlos speaks, he should address it as interim so that it is clear to everybody that it is an interim board”.
The two kept arguing back and forth, and unsurprisingly tempers went an octave higher, resulting in the exchange of vituperative language.
By George Clifford Owusu
