Kenya: MCSK awarded 2023 operating licence

This follows a directive by the Kenyan Parliament on 17 May to KECOBO after months of protracted dispute between the two organisations.

The tussle between the CMO and the regulator has been raging for months with KECOBO accusing the MCSK of lack of transparency in the collection and distribution of royalties to musicians and thereby declining to renew its licence.

The battle that has played out between the organisations appears to have been halted for now after the Parliamentary Committee on Sports and Culture ruled in favour of the CMO.

After failing to convince the courts about the illegality of KECOBO’s decision, the MCSK took its pleas to the floor of the Parliament where it found favour in a hearing attended by both KECOBO executive director Edward Sigei and the MCSK CEO Ezekiel Mutua.

In January, KECOBO declined to issue the MCSK with a licence for operations in 2023 after it accused it of contravening the Copyright Act No. 12 of 2001 and the Copyright (Collective Management) Regulations of 2020.

As part of the requirements for the renewal of their licences, KECOBO had asked Kenyan CMOS to submit a list of beneficiaries and amounts paid in royalties for 2022, audited financial statements for period up to June 2022 and an authenticated members list, but the MCSK failed to comply.

During the hearing, Mutua accused KECOBO of frustrating its efforts to serve its members effectively and efficiently. “Most business premises across the country, public services vehicles and broadcasters have been exploiting our members’ works for free as KECOBO hides behind technicalities to deny us the licence,” Mutua said.

In issuing the ruling, the committee chairman Dan Wanyama said: “CMOs are private companies and the government should not appear in any way to micromanage them. The work of the government should be to provide oversight and a conducive environment for CMOs to thrive as businesses to serve their members effectively. This is what we want to see.”

This is not the first time KECOBO has denied MCSK a licence. In 2017 KECOBO declined to renew the MCSK’s operating licence over similar reasons.

The MCSK is one of the oldest CMOs in Kenya and boasts over 10 000 members but decades-long accusations of lack of transparency by artists continue to plague it.

Related content: Who gains from Kenya’s dysfunctional music royalty space?