Celebs

Amakye Dede Blast GHAMRO Board….Calls Them Hungry Lions And Cheats

Published on February 7, 2013

Legendary Hi-life musician Abrantie Amakye Dede has bared his teeth out to board members of the interim Ghana Association of Music Right Owners (GHAMRO) for cheating Ghanaian musicians within their reign so far, after they took over from the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA).

The “Bebrebee” singer slammed the fourteen (14) member interim board that are officially and constitutionally responsible for the collection and distribution of intellectual music royalties on behalf of its members, for not being transparent to all Ghanaian musicians and specifically to its members in their dealings.

In his attempt to express his displeasure, Amakye Dede rejected his share of the recent royalty distributed among Ghanaian musicians in December 2012.

According to Amakye Dede he received GH₵250 as royalty for the last quarter of the year but he believes he deserve much more than that considering the number of albums he has released and his general contribution to the music industry both in and outside Ghana in the year under review.

The “Iron Boy” hit maker described the Chairman of the interim GHAMRO board, Carlos Sakyi and musician K.K. Kaboobo who is a member of the board as “hungry Lions” and “cheats” because they have contributed very little to the music industry and yet they enjoy far more than the musicians who have sustained Ghanaian music over a very long period.

“I don’t think K.K. Kaboobo knows what he is saying or maybe I respect him too much, because when we started everybody know the cut Kaboobo was getting but he shouldn’t think that if that time he couldn’t make use of it, he is now coming to use the GHAMRO office to enrich himself like a hungry lion. It will never happen!,” he said.

According to Amakye Dede, he fought the administration of former MUSIGA President Alhaji Sidiku Buari and other past administrations for not being transparent with the support of Carlos Sakyi, K.K. Kaboobo and most of the interim GHAMRO members and yet when the same people took over after succeeding removing Sidiku Buari, things have even moved from “bad to worst”.

“We all fought that Alhaji Sidiku Buari was not transparent, including Carlos Sakyi…as for Kaboobo you came in to represent the musicians union so when Diana Hopeson left, he was supposed to get out and you don’t even have to be part of GHAMRO, but because of your dubious means you are still part of it. I’m telling you that both of you do not contribute anything and what we took over from Sidiku Buari you people have even made it worst.” he cried.

Amakyi Dede is advocating that all musicians who are members of the GHAMRO board must leave the office and go back to the studio and on stage to record good songs and perform all over the country and allow professionals and administrators to do the office work and proper documentation for GHAMRO.

“I don’t care who the leader is but let’s find professionals and not musicians to do the work. If Kaboobo and his friends believe they are musicians they should put the pen down come back on stage to perform and allow other people to work for us because you have taken what we were fighting against, from “bad to worst.”

Abrantie went on to accuse Carlos Sakyi, K.K. Kaboobo and the entire GHAMRO board for not being transparent as to how much money they collect, over what period of time and which criteria they used in distributing royalties to musicians.

“I’m telling you Carlos Sakyi, K.K. Kaboobo and everybody that if you have come like hungry lions and you lie, you cannot use us as we want accountability!, how can you distribute money for us when we don’t know the total amount collected or the total amount being distributed? Amakye asked.

He wondered how many albums Carlos Sakyi and K.K. Kaboobo have released in their entire music career to determine how much he (Amakye Dede) or other musicians get as royalty.

“No! We are not going to give you this chance because you think that you will just go there and there would be no accountability. After everything you will account for whatever. I’m telling you because we cannot just sit down and spend sleepless night writing and recording songs and you people will just form GHAMRO and are enjoying from our sweat. No! It won’t happen,” he screamed.

Asked what prove he has for making such wild allegations Amakye Dede said when they were all not happy about Alhaji Sikidu Buari and Diana Hopeson’s administration, he gave his Ford bus and his private Benz saloon car for all of them to travel to Kumasi and other places to convince the musicians there to join the fight. He said he gave his bar/restaurant “Abrantie Spot” as the meeting place for this movement.

Amakye stated that when they fought for so many years and they got what they wanted, Carlos Sakyi and K.K. Kaboobo was appointed to represent them, when they went there and realised there was money there, they connived with the other board members to cheat them off their money.

However, Board member of the Ghana Musicians Rights Organization (GHAMRO), K.K. Kaboobo(Real name: Kwabena Kwakye Kaboobo) has vehemently discounted allegations of financial misappropriation and lack transparency leveled against the leadership of the association.The legendary hi-life musician debunked claims by Amakye Dede that the leadership had misappropriated some funds belonging to the members.

K.K. Kaboobo speaking on Peace FM’s “Entertainment Review” programme explained that the disbursement of the funds to the beneficiaries within the organization was done with a collective mind.

“The collective management organization is governed by laws. The main objective is LCD, thus, Licensing, Collection and Distribution. We are permitted by law to distribute it (money) twice a year. The process was stalled because GHAMRO did not begin in January last year but the middle of the year; so per the laws, we were supposed to do the distribution twice a year. The late start of GHAMRO affected us but due to our hard work, we were however able to distribute it in September and December…,” he narrated.

According to K.K. Kaboobo, the Board has done nothing wrong in distributing money to the members who collectively made a request for it and he had few words for their critics:

“We’ve done so many things…the best thing is to make a headway. If you discover something devious, you can take us on but there is nothing like that going on. What we are saying is let’s all exercise patience and watch,when we established COSGA; we did this same thing and allowed the so-called professionals to manage. We assisted them financially to undergo training abroad but when they resumed work, we realized it was collapsing…I’d be happy if he(Amakye Dede) can identify any professional he is talking about, when they were placed at the helm of affairs, they collapsed the initiative. So, we’ve decided to handle it ourselves.”

To him, the Board members have kept a clean sheet and that their sole aim is to address the concerns of the musicians.

In a related development Chairman of GHAMRO Mr Carlos Sakyi has back K.K. Kaboobo’s defense adding that “GHAMRO is one of the most transparent organizations in Ghana.”

Adding that most of the issues raised by Amakye Dede were baseless and mere allegations because Amakye Dede like most of its members refuse to attend meetings or visit the GHAMRO office to inquire on how things are done there. Carlos said their doors are always opened for the media and GHAMRO members who to find information about their operations.

Meanwhile a member of the interim GHAMRO board Rex Omar resigned last week based on the same issues Amakye Dede raised.

Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana