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MUSIGA holds Emergency Meeting in Accra

Mon, 2 May 2005 Source: GNA

Accra, May 2, GNA - Ghana has been commended for being one of the few African countries to have put in place a new constitution to regulate the activities of Musicians.

The commendation was given by the International Federation of Musicians at its first executive meeting in Nice, France, last month. This was announced by Alhaji Sidiku Buari, National President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), at an emergency meeting in Accra at which members of the Union discussed latest developments in the music industry, in addition to the report from the meeting in France.

At the emergency meeting, the Executive members from the regional levels of the union were concerned at government's delay in giving assent to the new Copyright bill passed by Parliament.

Members expressed regret government's relationship with the Coalition of Concerned Copyright Advocates (COCCA), saying it was not in the interest of the Union as it could polarize the musicians' front. They questioned the holding of regular consultation with the COCCA group without any reference to the legitimate musicians body, MUSIGA, to the extent of signing a draft memorandum with the said group on an issue as crucial as the copyright bill, which sought to check the exploitation and piracy of the Intellectual Property of Musicians.

The meeting commended the National Executives of the Union for the able manner members had handled the affairs of the Union so far. Reacting to the concerns, Alhaji Buari urged the Regional Executives to exercise restraint for the National Executives to handle the issue.

Alhaji Buari, who is also the Vice-President of the Federation, said even though the issues raised by the regional executives were legitimate, they were not beyond the National Executive and asked them to be tolerant and respect the rights of other people to express their views on matters of national concern.

The Musicians Union, he said, will resist any attempt to bring into force any bill that was at variance with international norms and standards, adding that Ghana was highly respected in international music circles having attained so much and "no effort should be made to ridicule it in the eyes of the international community."

Source: GNA