The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) has said it spent over one million Ghana cedis on the organization and execution of its first ever Ghana Music Week (GMW).
The first edition of GMW festival was held from March 4 to 10, 2013 at the National Theater and Accra Sports Stadium. While many have praised MUSIGA for the event, it has also been hit with allegations of financial impropriety.
Central Regional Executives of MUSIGA had threatened to call for a resolution to remove the musicians union’s president, Bice Osei Kuffour, also known as Obour, from office “for not being able to clarify major issues” concerning the event.
They had accused Obour of spending Gh¢1,200,000 of MUSIGA’s funds on the 7-day event.
But MUSIGA, in statement released Wednesday and copied Myjoyonline.com, explained that the delay in releasing a financial report on the event was due to the fact that they “had to wait for full confirmation of the sponsorship as well as confirmed invoices from suppliers before an official Financial Report on GMW 2013 was finalized for general consumption.”
The statement, co-signed by Mrs.Deborah Anaman, General Secretary of MUSIGA, and Oheneba Kissi, MUSIGA Treasurer, said, funds generated directly from GMW totaled Gh¢528,500.00. The statement noted that, the amount includes a receivable of Gh¢408,000.00 from key sponsors.
Apart from that, MUSIGA said it used an amount Gh¢540,000 out of the GHC2 million government of Ghana budgetary allocation to support the music industry.
The statement added that, “a sum of Gh¢1,061,971.50 was accrued as total expenditure on GMW 2013. As a prudent measure, full cost has been reported though not all expenses have been fully settled. At the time of this Statement, payable amount sums up to Gh¢452,010.00.”
According to MUSIGA, the union is yet to receive over 75% of funds from corporate sponsors; and “that quite a number of suppliers are yet to be paid; a full financial report will be released as at when final settlements are made.”
MUSIGA said in the statement that the Ghana Music Week was its event and that, the National Theater and Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts were organising partners.
Over 300 artistes and musicians, including a traditional group from each of the 10 regions of Ghana performed at the 2013 GMW and it attracted over 11,500 persons to all its activities.
The national office of MUSIGA is expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday April, 17 to further outline how funds for the Ghana Music Week were used.
Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Ernest Dela Aglanu (Twitter: @delaXdela / Instagram: citizendela)