Kumasi (Ashanti), 15 Feb ’99 –
The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) will soon launch a 2.5 billion-cedi endowment fund to sustain the music industry and help improve the status of musicians in the country. This was announced by Mr Joe Mensah, Out- going President of MUSIGA at a one-day quadrennial congress of MUSIGA under the theme “Reconciliation towards a vibrant and stable music industry in the year 2000 and beyond” in Kumasi on Friday.
Mr Mensah said the fund when accepted and approved by the Congress would be used for the provision of some facilities at their newly acquired Secretariat at the old passport office building in Accra. Among the facilities are a Musicians Union store to sell the works of members, a hall of fame for great Ghanaian musicians of the past, a club house, establishment of a radio station by the Union to promote Ghanaian music, and a teaching centre for musicians to organise workshops to expose their members to modern trends in the music industry.
The Out-going President said the Oversight Committee has imported six million banderoles from Great Britain and when they are sold would save about 512 million cedis for musicians to help them improve their standard of living. “Ghanaian music must be projected to the world. We cannot achieve this without reconciliation and unity”, he added. Nana Kwame Ampadu, General Secretary of MUSIGA, appealed to members for time, to enable him to produce a comprehensive report on their stewardship since 1992 when they were elected into office. He explained that they had to organise the congress to beat the deadline set by an Accra High Court to report to it by next Tuesday.
