You’ve not assigned your right to GHAMRO’ – Rex Omar replies M.anifest

Veteran musician, Rex Owusu Marfo aka Rex Omar has responded to Ghanaian rapper, singer and songwriter, Kwame Ametepee Tsikata known in music circles as M.anifest over the latter’s claim that he has not received any royalties from the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) since he started music.

During a recent interview with BBC, M.anifest while wishing Ghana a happy 61st anniversary also talked about the default in the payment of royalties to Ghanaian musicians.

Reacting to the statement on Starr Chat with Bola Ray, the GHAMRO chairman indicated that M.anifest has not assigned his works to GHAMRO – which means he is not a member and cannot take his royalties from them.

He admitted that though the society has collected some monies on his behalf, they are unable to distribute it to him because they have no data on the ‘W’ani Aba’ hitmaker.

“Recently I heard one of our brilliant musicians, M.anifest sitting on BBC and saying he hasn’t received a penny from GHAMRO. The question is ‘Are you a member of GHAMRO’, he isn’t a member. You’ve not assigned your right to GHAMRO.

“As I sit here, GHAMRO has some smaller money for him but who should we pay the money to. How do GHAMRO know the songs you’re singing belong to you. Sometimes three or five people can write a song. We don’t have any data on you, you’re not our member. How do we know that the songs we’ve collected monies for belong to you alone… So first and foremost you’ve to come to GHAMRO and assigned your right to us. GHAMRO will protect your songs even after 70years.”

“We’ve collected monies on behalf of M.anifest but we can’t give it directly to him because he’s not our member… If he belongs to another society that we’ve partnered with, we’ll give it them to be given to M.anifest.” GHAMRO Chairman indicated on Starr FM.