GHAMRO Under Pressure To Elect Substantive Executives

Pressure is once again mounting at the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) where displeased members have intensified their call on the leadership to hold election and pave way for a permanent administration. The Spectator Agoro is reliably informed that the current 14-member Board was constituted almost two years ago at the birth of the organization and given a one-year mandate to oversee its affairs and subsequently hold elections to elect a permanent Board. However, two years down the line, the Board has yet to hold fresh elections that would pave way for a new administration. GHAMRO received the certification to operate as a collective society for Ghanaian musicians on December 23, 2011, replacing the erstwhile Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) which was supervised by the Attorney-General. The organization has since been rocked by internal agitations which have crippled the realization of the expectations of some member. The payment and administration of royalties due members have particularly featured in such wranglings. This is not the first time the conduct of elections and the formation of a permanent Board have come up. In recent past, some key figures, including one-time members of the interim Board, have all called for elections but to no avail. Two celebrated Highlife musicians, Rex Omar and Charles Amoah, who, hitherto, were members of the Board, resigned their positions earlier this year and cited the issue about the election as part of their reasons.