Kenya: CMOs granted license for six months
06 Feb 2020 - 08:36
The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) has issued a six months licences to the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), the Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) and the Performance Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) to collect royalties in 2020.
This development was made public today through a press statement issued by KECOBO executive director Edward Sigei.
"The board, in its meeting of 28 January 2020, has taken decisions to protect the interests of artists by establishing a system of fair, fraud-proof royalty collection and to ensure that individuals who may have previously been involved in the mismanagement of funds are punished in accordance with the law," he said.
In the press statement, the three CMOs will need to undergo a forensic audit. KECOBO’s management will analyse the CMOs Memorandum and Articles of Association to find areas of wastage and non-compliance and advise accordingly.
"The audit on Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) accounts from 2017 to 2019 will commence immediately while that of the Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) and Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) will be conducted once a suitable audit firm is procured, at any rate not later than March 2020," Sigei said.
The CMOs will continue to jointly collect the royalties using a government-approved ICT system and deposit all their income into a KECOBO-controlled account. Out of the money deposited, 70 percent shall be retained and disbursed to beneficiaries while the remaining 30 percent shall be sent to the CMOs as recurrent costs.
KECOBO also directed that payments to directors of MCSK must be halted until the CMOs issue new allowances rates as required by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
Finally, all senior managers and members of CMOs must be vetted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
"These conditions are part of wide-ranging reforms in the music sector in compliance with the newly amended Copyright Act and are aimed at establishing proper governance systems and eradicate wasteful management of royalties," Sigei said.
In September 2019, Justice Fred A. Ochieng revoked MCSK’s royalty collection license because KECOBO, did not have a properly constituted board at the time it issued a license to MCSK.
However, in November 2019, he issued a new ruling allowing the CMOs to collect royalties for 60 days jointly. During the listed period, KECOBO and the Attorney General will have to constitute a lawful Board of directors.
The new board was gazetted by the Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki on 29 October 2019 and includes Timothy Juma Odemba, Mwaniki Mageria and Mary Wairimu Mbuthia Maina.
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