Kojo Antwi to Raise ¢10b For Flood Victims

The wind of presidential elections, currently blowing through Ghanaian political parties, has reached the doorstep of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) the umbrella body for musicians in the country. But as the race intensifies, some of the country's celebrities are putting their act together on the sideline to raise ¢10 billion for flood victims. By the close of nominations last week, 12 completed forms had been returned for the various executive positions including President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President, General Secretary, Treasurer and Welfare Officer. Two of the returned forms are for the presidency; two for 1st Vice, one for 2nd Vice, four for General Secretary, two for Welfare Officer and one for Treasurer. The outgoing MUSIGA president, Alhaji Sidiku Buari, told Showbiz that a committee to vet the nominations will meet on Monday after which names of qualified candidates for the November 14 congress in Sunyani will be made public. Reliable information from the music grapevine indicates that Mrs Dinah Akiwumi-Hopeson, the current 1st Vice President and Gyedu Blay-Ambolley are the two persons to contest for the presidency. A.B.Crentsil is also said to be among the two who have filed for the position of 1st Vice President. Nana Kwame Ampadu and Amandzeba and the current Welfare Officer, Osei Kofi, are all said to have filled and returned nomi¬nation forms. The MUSIGA secretariat started giving out free nomination forms from August 10. Several forms were collected but some of them were not returned. Sidiku said the secretariat was expecting more forms to be returned but "maybe some people found out later that they were not qualified to take positions in the union while others probably realised they are too busy to spare time for MUSIGA affairs." Sidiku became president of the union in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003. His second term ended last August but the union's National Executive Council scheduled the congress for next month. Ten delegates from each of the 10 regions will vote for a new team to run MUSIGA's affairs at the con¬gress. "The congress is definitely coming on. Preparations to host the delegates are almost completed. I can say everything is under control. We are now only waiting to see who has qualified or not among those who have completed and returned the nomination forms," said Sidiku. Some of the achievements the union chalked under the eight ¬year presidency of Sidiku include regular bi-annual payments of fixed sums as royalty to registered MUSIGA members and the acquisition of a permanent 18-room secretariat for the union. "The premises for the secretariat had been donated to MUSIGA for about two years before I took office. I made sure it was renovat¬ed for occupation. Some of the funds for that came from my own pocket," . Sidiku told Showbiz sometime ago. Sidiku's critics contend however that his constant claim of hav¬ing used his own resources to support ailing musicians and other MUSIGA commitments are rather indications of his inability to ensure appropriate structures for musicians to earn the decent money due them. They claim that if radio stations across the country can be made to log their playlists and pay appropriate fees for the music they use, many musicians would proudly rely on themselves all the time and not look up to the MUSIGA president periodically to bail them out financially. MUSIGA is the main grouping of musicians in this country. Its aims and objectives, according to its current constitution, include the protection of the creative and performing rights of all musicians, ensuring a fair return for the efforts of all musicians and encouraging the healthy growth of the music industry. While the politics is on, one of the country's leading musicians Kojo Antwi is looking elsewhere to raise ¢10 billion for charity with the support of three-time World Boxing Champion, Azumah Nelson, three-time African Best Footballer, Abedi Pele and film star Akorfa Ejeani Asiedu, among others. The project dubbed Concerned Artistes for Disaster Relief (CADRE) is designed along the "We Are The World" concept to raise the amount to support victims of the recent flood disaster in the country, It will be a two-day televised telethon under the theme "Reachout Ghana" featuring a mixture of music, mini-documentaries, footage from the hard-hit areas, and messages of solidarity from concerned citizens, friends and the world at large. Announcing the details in Accra, Kojo said Floods have struck our brothers and sisters in the north and other regions in the country, and although the rest of the country is getting some idea of the hardships resulting from this, the real magnitude and scale of this calamity is eluding the majority of Ghanaians." "It is time for we the stars to show our concern and demonstrate our support in these trying times for our unfortunate brothers and sisters."