Obour calls for unity in FIPAG

President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) Bice ‘Obour’ Osei Kuffour has tasked members of the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) to work together in unity to ensure that the organization remains strong.

In his solidarity message to FIPAG during their handing-over ceremony on Wednesday, Obour stated that the association would stand strong only if members put their differences behind them and worked together.

Earlier reports which circulated in the media suggested that the former FIPAG President Augustine Abbey, popularly known as Idikoko, wanted to hold on to power but other executives like Socrates Sarfo had to stand up to him. This led to his defeat at the polls by current President of the association, Asare Hackman. As a result, factions where created in the association ranging from Hackman’s boys to Idikoko’s boys.

The ‘Konkontiba’ hit maker told the film makers that the key to the strength of any association “is working together as a team. FIPAG is FIPAG because of people so the minute people decide to work together in unity, the better the organization can stand strong. As an association leader myself, I understand the frustration that the past president has gone through and the frustration that the current president will be going through so I share in their passion.”

As he congratulated the outgoing administration and incoming ones, Obour challenged the members of the association to hold the new administration to their word.

“I will also want to challenge the new leadership not to allow the bickering of elections to divide this group. Now there is a rebirth, there is a new FIPAG, let’s see that new FIPAG operates. I’m also challenging the members to hold their elected executives up on their word, let’s get them to do what they promised that they would do,” he said.

He urged the old administration to continue to provide counsel to the new executives.

“I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the outgoing [leadership] led by Idikoko and his other executives. I want to challenge the old leadership that the fact that they are out of office doesn’t mean they are out of FIPAG, they should be able to work with the current leadership, share what they have learnt so that the continuity can go on.”

He called for a strong partnership between FIPAG and MUSIGA since they were all part of the creative arts industry.

“The future for the film industry is the creative arts industry and the future is collaborations so we believe strongly that as part of the new leadership, you would bear in mind that collaborating with the broader creative arts industry should be a key feature in your tenure of office where we can move from partnership and draw into bigger collaboration that can together yield results for the entire creative arts industry .The success of the film industry is the success of the music industry because there can never be film without music,” he noted.