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The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) says Kirani Ayat\u2019s footage was legally acquired from an agency for the purposes for which it was used.<\/span><\/p>\n The Authority has therefore issued a statement refuting claims by Ghanaian musician Kirani Ayat concerning the use of his creative property without his permission.<\/p>\n \u201cOur attention has been drawn to a tweet by @KiraniAYAT and a publication by GhanaWeb regarding a video produced by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), which has been shared on our platforms since 2019 and recently on the social media handles of the President.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the record, the footage in question was acquired legitimately from a bespoke creative agency as part of a project in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to Clause 2 (b) of the MoU signed with the Agency (Obligations: Responsibility of the Agency), the Agency was to \u201cDeliver imaginative and impactful social strategies, such as content or documentaries for the use of GTA \u2018as it so wishes,\u201d excerpts of the statement said.<\/p>\n The GTA stated that the agency delivered the content to the Authority, and the Authority used the content in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement from which it was acquired.<\/p>\n \u201cThis video has thus been played severally locally and internationally without any issue. The content was used in accordance with the terms agreed with the agency and not as being alleged,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n Kirani Ayat had called out the Presidency for using some portions of his music video in an advertisement without his permission.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, September 27, the President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo shared a video to promote tourism in Ghana to mark World Tourism Day 2022.<\/p>\n In the video, which captures beautiful scenes of the country with a Voice over by the President, some portions of Kirani Ayat\u2019s music video for his hit song \u201cGuda\u201d can be seen in the video.<\/p>\n The video was shared on Twitter and caught Kirani Ayat\u2019s attention who subsequently called out the Presidency for using his music without his permission.<\/p>\n According to Kirani Ayat, the President used a portion of his \u201cGuda\u201d video in the ad, even though in the year 2018\/2019, he got no reply after reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism to give him permission to use the said video to promote tourism in the north.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president of Ghana has used my video \u201cGUDA\u201d in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018\/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got NO reply, yet today it\u2019s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,\u201d he wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n The singer who deserves royalty on his music and intellectual properties, admonished the creator of the video, stating that he\/she should have reached out and done due diligence before using his creative property.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever worked on this video should\u2019ve reached out to the rightful content owners before proceeding. I spent my all in making GUDA possible, I\u2019m sure you were paid for this job, where is my cut ?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Sarkodie has thrown his weight behind his colleague, Kirani Ayat, with a tweet, \u201cWe ( creatives ) do a lot to put our country out there, attracting a lot of tourists x investors that translates to money to help nation building yet that\u2019s one sector with no support\u2026 I feel my brother and support him especially if he actually reached out and didn\u2019t get help\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n