Musician Union Rejects Draft Copyright Bill

Accra, (Greater Accra) 3 Oct.,

A national forum to discuss the copyright draft bill was today suspended when COSGA members refused to listen to the highlight of core areas of the bill by Nana Bosomprah, Acting Copyright Administrator. This came about when Mr. Joe Mensah, President of MUSIGA petitioned the chairman for the occasion, Professor Nana Kwame Arhin, who is also Chairman of the National Commission on Culture that members of the association were not consulted on the drafting of the bill. Moreover, they were not given enough time to study the document before the meeting, he said. Other COSGA members supported Mr. Mensah's claim, and said they were presented with both copies of the document and invitations only yesterday. COSGA is the acronym for the Copyright Society of Ghana and embraces musicians, photographers, producers, authors, broadcasters and film makers among others. Mr. Mensah elaborating on the reasons for their refusal to take part in the forum said ''this is a law that will affect both our lives and interests and it is proper that we are consulted on its drafting.'' ''There is the need for us to be involved in anything which concerns us.'' He said in the first place, the document itself and the procedure for its adoption was unacceptable and called for appropriate steps in the drafting of the bill. ''If this is not done, there is going to be a continuation of something that has brought about a lot of problems and division amongst us.''