Philippa Baafi has opened up about her music being used for politics.
The gospel star spoke on No. 1 105.3 FM’s No. 1 Gospel Showbiz programme.
When host Taller Dee opined she was officially initiated into politics once the New Patriotic Party (NPP) adopted her megahit Go High, she pushed back.
“Let’s be honest in how we report some things,” she pleaded, and noting that “I’m a Ghanaian,” she said she votes just like all other citizens of age.
She then rhetorically asked if she had ever been seen publicly campaigning for any political party.
Philippa Baafi said she only recorded and released her song innocently, intimating she had no initial intentions to turn it over for political purposes.
“I created Go High in 2007. The song was on rotation till Kotoko [football club] took it. This was before the Black Stars did same. This was way before the NPP used the song,” she narrated. “Note what happened before the NPP took it.”
She said what the NPP did was similar to when radio stations use an artiste’s song to design an audio advert.
“In that case, you [media] pay for copyrights,” she noted.
Concerning performing for the NPP while it sought power, she said: “If you are asked to come perform your song, you also must go.”
“I’m Ghanaian,” she stressed, arguing: “And so even if I say I support the NPP or the NDC, it is no wrongdoing.”
She categorically indicated the NPP “did all that was necessary and that’s how they were able to use the song.”
“It’s only an issue of copyright laws – it’s very important,” she clarified.
Furthermore, Ms. Baafi admitted that the Go High song paid her handsomely.
“It is God’s work I’m doing, and I am entitled to earning a living from it,” she said, smiling. “If, as I do the work, an opportunity is opened for me, why not use it?”
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), seeking another term after eight years of President John Agyekum Kufuor, used Go High as a campaign song in 2008. Led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the party was defeated. He and the party would see success, however, in 2016.
In a 2018 Joy Prime interview, Ms. Baafi revealed she “prayed with my pastors and others,” asking permission from God before giving Go High to the NPP, and “I never regretted it.” She added that her actions are not prescriptive for all gospel singers, encouraging them to also seek God’s will before action.
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