Publishers are suffering from piracy – Association

The Ghana Book Publishers Association (GBPA) says the Copyright Monitoring Team inaugurated by the Attorney- General to help minimise the abuse of the economic rights of the creators lack the resources to be effective.

Mr Elliot Agyare, the President of the GBPA, complaining about the crippling effect of piracy on publishers, therefore, called for a regulatory framework that ‘bites and serves as a deterrent to would be perpetrators’.

At a Media Engagement, in Accra, Mr Agyare said, tried as they would, publishers had been unable to win the battle against piracy.

“Members of the Association are reeling under the power of the scourge of piracy and we have had a bad time fighting this battle,” he emphasised.

On the celebration of the World Book Day, Mr Agyare said since its inception on April, 23, 1996, to promote habitual reading, little attention had been given to it by the Ghanaian stakeholders in education.

Elsewhere, he said, parents and children were made to appreciate the essence of reading by owning books; while children were also progressively taught to acquire the habit of reading, as an asset.

The occasion was also used to recognise the contribution of Literature in understanding the cultures of world and the importance of authors, illustrators, book artists and publishers, he said.

Mr Agyare, therefore, urged the media, educationists, policymakers, the Government, and other stakeholders, to champion the cause of making the celebration a worthy one to contribute towards knowledge acquisition for national development.

Meanwhile, this year’s celebration was marked with fun activities such as scrabble, bingo, world games, puzzles, competitions and presentations at the forecourt of Sweet Melodies Fm station, in Accra.

The event dubbed, “It’s a Reading Revolution”, was open to students, teachers, parents and book lovers to interact, play and share their reading experiences.

The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) designated the Day, which is marked in more than 100 countries.