Musicians Union of Ghana responds to research critics

The explanation comes on the heels of criticism of the union’s management of the funds. Radio personality Kofu Okyere Darko, in particular, has been vocal in expressing dissatisfaction at the manner in which the money, which was allocated by Ghana's government in 2012, was spent. “How has it affected the musicians in this country?" he asked.

"It was a nonsense research. They found a way of trying to account for it but how has it benefitted the musicians? I think that we can’t have musicians in charge of the musicians and not use the money given by government in a judicious way to affect everyone positively. People earn next to nothing in royalties.”

MUSIGA’s director of communications and special projects Ahuma Ocansey has said the music industry benefited from the research carried out with the money. at the time by KPMG. Some of the benefits, said Ocansey, was the recommendation that a different ministry be established for the creative art industry. Another product of the research was the MUSIGA Academy.

“The MUSIGA Academy was created to train musicians and so far, it has turned out the first batch of 120 graduates who were trained free of charge,” he said. “The second batch, which is fee paying, is already undergoing training and are expected to graduate soon.”

President of MUSIGA Bice Osei Kuffour took to Facebook to post the KPMG report and respond to MUSIGA’s detractors. “The Comprehensive Study of the Music Sector in Ghana(full and abridged versions) have been published in hard copy and online since 2014 but it seems some key Industry players have still not read yet,” he wrote. “Please drop an email to [email protected] and our office will mail you a copy.”

He then added: "If you keep knowledge in the book, you hide it from the black man". It's sad that this is still happening in our life time.”