Musicians call on Attorney-General to replace COSGA Board

Kumasi, March.21, GNA - The National Society of Ghana Music Producers (NASGAMP) has called on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to appoint an independent professional body to replace the Interim Managemen= t Board (IMB) of the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) to bring efficiency=

into the administration of the Society.

They said the appointment of a permanent professional body would not onl= y help to inject professionalism into the operations of COSGA but also to prevent stakeholders' involvement, which often resulted in problems of conflict of interest. This was contained in a petition jointly signed by Mr John Mensah Sarpon= g, President of NASGAMP; Mr Adusah Acheampong, First Vice President; Mr Coll= ins Owusu Afriyie, Second Vice President and Mr Baffour Manu, Executive Membe= r. The group accused the IMB of unprofessional conduct and said this w= as creating tension among stakeholders in the music industry.

The petition cited the inability of the IMB to implement any of the duti= es for which it was appointed. The Board was mandated to ensure the distribution of levies to members; conduct elections for permanent Execut= ive of COSGA and to clean the flawed stakeholders' register within three mont= hs, but six months on, it has not been able to do any of these.

The petition said members of the Board only continued to allocate to themselves fat sitting allowances, which was severely draining the coffer= s of COSGA, stating that, the GH¢90.00 allowance per sitting for each mem= ber was causing financial stress to the Copyright Society. They touched on a recent levy distribution exercise in Kumasi where most=

producers and musicians were denied payment of their share for no apparen= t reason.

They also found it totally unacceptable that musicians in Accra should usually receive their levies several months ahead of those in Kumasi. According to NASGAMP, "COSGA is the eye and heart of stakeholders and an= y mismanagement in finances and leadership could be a recipe for chaos". The petioners said it was on account of these that the Attorney-General should ensure transparency and accountability to promote=

peace in the music industry.

It said if it were impossible to appoint an independent professional bod= y, then there was the need to appoint representatives from all interest grou= ps in the industry to the COSGA Board to ensure equity and transparency in i= ts operations.