Commission ready to combat piracy - Mr Nkrumah-Gyimah

Accra, Jan. 8, GNA - The National Commission on Culture (NCC) on Thursday expressed concern about the resurgence of piracy in musical and literary works in the country.

"The activities of pirates do not only have a negative impact on the revenue of the publishers but also that of Government, the authors and employees of the industry," Mr Samuel Nkrumah-Gyimah, Vice Chairman of NCC, told the GNA after receiving five computers and accessories worth 72 million cedis from the Chinese Government.

He said, even though, the NCC was constrained in terms of finances and logistics to assist the Copyright Monitoring Unit to undertake anti-piracy activities, "we would cooperate with other security agencies, general public and civil society in the crusade to combat piracy".

Mr Nkrumah-Gyimah, who is the Member of Parliament for Odotobri, said the Commission would soon embark on education campaigns on the serious repercussions of piracy.

He said it was an offence to reproduce by any means any copyrighted material for commercial purposes.

He warned that printers and booksellers, who connived and condoned in this unprofessional practice would be equated to fake currency printers and punished as such.

Mr Nkrumah-Gyimah commended the Government and People of China for the continuous support to Ghana in general and to the Commission in particular.

He also thanked China for her contribution toward Ghana's socio-economic development and for supporting the entertainment industry, especially the building of the National Theatre and cultural exchange programmes initiated last year.

Mr Li Yong Chuan of the Chinese Embassy in Accra, who presented the items, said the Government and people of China attached prominence to their relationship with Ghana and called for more cooperation through cultural ties.

He said such cooperation through inter-cultural exchanges would deepen the existing relationship as well as demystify national barriers. 08 Jan. 04