Obour Explains 20 Billion

Bice Osei Kufour aka Obuor, president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), will on Thursday meet journalists to explain the state of the union under his presidency for the last year and one major thing on the agenda will be an explanation of the controversial GH¢2 million (¢20 billion) the Government of Ghana set aside in the 2012 budget to boost the creative arts industry.

MUSIGA recently went for the money without the approval of other stakeholders in the creative arts industry and this led to some bad blood between the union and other stakeholders in the creative arts industry.

This would be the first time Obour will be addressing the press since reports of that near-scandal broke and it would be interesting to see how he explains himself.

Recently, the Music Council of Ghana (MCG) took MUSIGA to task over the money and tempers are yet to be calmed.

Meanwhile, the circumstances under which the Ministry of Finance released the money to MUSIGA alone are quite mysterious, especially when the Minister of Finance, in reading the budget statement, had categorically stated that the money was for the creative arts industry.

The Finance Minister, when he made the announcement, even went on to explain what he meant by the creative arts industry:

“Madam Speaker, Ghana has a vibrant creative arts industry that can be nurtured to create jobs and provide increase income to all stakeholders.

The industry covers creative sectors such as music, film video and photography, visual and performing arts, publishing, etc.

Global trade in creative goods and services remained very robust during the financial and economic meltdown, with the value of global export of creative goods and services reaching nearly US$600 billion between 2002 and 2008.”

“193. Ghana can benefit immensely if it begins to tap the creative sector of the economy, particularly those of the music and film industry.

But this will require an evaluation of the potential of the creative industry to contribute to the growth of the economy.

Beginning in 2012, therefore, Government will collaborate with the music industry to identify the potential of the industry through an impact assessment study.

The study will be used to support the preparation of a medium term strategic framework that will guide the development of the industry.

Government will also support the organisation of the 2012 Ghana Music Fair.

“194. An amount of GH¢2.0 million has been allocated to support the creative arts industry in 2012,”was what Finance Minister Dufour told Parliament when he read the 2012 budget last year November.

This is what is also captured in the 2012 budget under the subhead line ‘Boosting the Creative Arts Industry’.

On Thursday, Obour and his team will hold a special briefing dubbed State of the Musicians Union of Ghana address.

It will cover the activities of the union over the one year period.

The president will address issues concerning projects that have been undertaken since he assumed office, some milestones and some upcoming projects among others.