100 days of President Obour in office

MUSICIANS UNION OF GHANA (MUSIGA)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21st December 2012

PRESIDENT OBOUR AND TEAM CHALK 100 DAYS IN OFFICE

The last quarter of the year 2011 will forever remain in the annals of Ghanaian Music Industry as being historic in many ways. A team headed by a youthful President Obour was ushered into office 100 days ago, and within weeks, it was clear that Musiga was receiving a breath a fresh of air. Many young musicians who for decades did not feel that they belonged all started ‘coming home’ to their mother union. Then came the one hundred thousand US Dollars Donation from an individual to the Union, and then the Government Budget allocation of two million Ghana cedis for the sector, etc, etc.

All these historic events happening in the industry within the first 100 Days in office of this formidable team led by Obour as President of the Musicians Union of Ghana speaks volumes of the quality of leadership and faith industry players and other stakeholders have in the New Musiga. 21st December 2011 marks exactly 100 days since Obour was sworn in as the President together with other elected officers for the Union. “We have a four-year mandate to serve the many expectant musicians of this country. That is a lot of time and we cannot afford to fail,” says President Obour.

These promising beginnings come amidst a number of Union and industry challenges which stir leadership in the face. Many more musicians and artistes continue to live below the poverty line. Very weak administrative and management structures coupled with lack of appropriate human resource to manage specific professional requirements as a result of financial constrains, as well as low level of collaboration among relevant sister and affiliate bodies. We shall endeavor to make assiduous efforts in the new year to move beyond these challenges, and wish to make a special appeal to all and sundry to come along and lets join hands to lift high our music industry together, reiterates President Obour
In spite of some of these challenges, the rebranding agenda of Musiga successfully took off through the Launching of a new membership drive campaign at the National Theatre in November 2011. So far hundreds of new members have signed up in Accra alone, with the hope to hit the one thousand mark very soon.

To ensure prudent and transparent financial administration and management of the Union, a qualified chattered accountant has been employed to administer the Union funds. Plans are far advance to engage the services of a major auditing firm to add more efficiency to the Unions financial management. This is being done to improve financial, programmatic and institutional sustainability of the Union.

In order to also improve artistic relations with members, various Directors have been appointed for all the major music genres including highlife, hip life, gospel, reggae, choral, traditional groups, bands, etc, all in a bid to improve cohesiveness, information flow and knowledge sharing.

Gradually, members and non members are renewing their commitment and confidence in the Union and are willing to offer their professional services to help the progressive development of the Union and the music industry as a whole. It is, therefore, not surprising that Government of Ghana for the first time included the music and creative sector in the 2012 budget allocations following a proposal the Union presented for consideration during the 2012 budget review meetings. Come first week of 2012, the proposal presented to the Ministry of Finance will be finalized and resubmitted for disbursement and implementation. All relevant sector-wide stakeholders will be fully brought on board in this regard. Issues pertaining to the establishment of well functioning industry structures, training and a pension plan for artistes will receive special attention.

The positive outlook of the new Executive opened the door for a donation of One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD100,000.00) by Dr. Kofi Amoah of Citizen Kofi fame. This amount when disbursed will assist in developing a business plan for the sustainable growth of the music business in Ghana, help generate increased investor confidence, improve profitability and create wealth for all players in the industry.

ECOBANK, the World Bank and UNDP are equally collaborating with the Union to expand, improve and maintain a digital infrastructure for the promotion of Ghanaian Music. When this facility is completed, we will see a new Musiga website and new internet portal to serve as a platform for promoting Musiga, the industry and more importantly for marketing Ghanaian music globally.

The AJUMAPA slogan has now become a deliverable message. The Union under President Obour is leading a National Campaign to Promote Tolerance. This was launched in November as part of International Day for Tolerance – a day set aside by the UN to promote human rights and peaceful co-existence among all. Given that 2012 is a crucial election year in Ghana, a series of activities are planned for which support and collaboration have been successfully sought from UNESCO and UNDP, with the full buy-in of the youth leaders of the major political parties in Ghana. A number of our members have already done peace songs and are planning a wide range of activities to make sure Ghana remains intact after the 2012 elections. A petition has since been sent to Parliament which was well received and is under consideration.

Another landmark event during these 100 days, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana was the special Guest of Honor for the MUSIGA GRAND BALL event held at the state House  Accra. This is a single activity with which a niche has been calved with the corporate world and is billed as an annual event to help create a platform to celebrate the hard works of our artistes and also raise funds to support the development and growth of the music industry in Ghana.
Within the first quarter of 2012 the Union will organize regional elections in all the ten regions of Ghana. By this release, all prospective voters should start signing up for the new registration and re-registration exercise to gain eligibility to vote for their preferred candidates.

The Union is also working with other stakeholders to find a permanent solution to the industry copyright challenges through the establishment of a new collective management organization (GHAMRO) latest by the first quarter 2012.
As we close the chapter on the year 2011 and approach the New year 2012, we wish all Ghanaians especially our dear musicians a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Let us continue in the spirit of oneness as a nation and a people in achieving a common goal of Peace, Unity and Development.

God Bless our Homeland Ghana.

Merry Christmas.

Signed.
Deborahfreeman
Deborah Freeman
(General Secretary)

This post has already been read 800 times!