Accra, July 27, GNA - The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), has warned its members against patronising a scheduled event in Europe dubbed Ghana Music Awards, saying, "any member who participates in such an event without its express approval does so at his or her own risk". A statement issued in Accra on Tuesday and signed by its President Alhaji Sidiku Buari warned the organisers of the said event to desist from using the name of MUSIGA in any advertisement since the Union was not in the know of any such programme.
The statement said the Union was inclined to believe that the said event was a phoney one and was being organised "only to syndicate visas abroad.
It warned persons who posed as musicians to solicit visas abroad to desist from such acts since they would not be spared when caught. The statement recalled an incident in which some persons claiming to be musicians from Ghana absconded in Switzerland and had so far not been traced and MUSIGA was now being held liable for their action. It explained that such dubious visa racketeering prevented genuine musicians from securing visas to travel abroad and dented the image of Ghanaian musicians.
The Ghana Music Awards UK Committee, hit back last night on allegations from MUSIGA (Musicians Union of Ghana)
The Committee of the Ghana Music Awards UK, lashed back on an article from MUSIGA stating that the awards ceremony was only being organised to ‘syndicate visa’s abroad’ Mr Alhaji Sidiku Buari, President of MUSIGA also stated that MUSIGA is not part of the Ghana Music Awards UK and has no knowledge of any such event and if “any member participates in the event without MUSIGA’s expressed approval, does so at his or her own risk”.
Mr Eric McKaiser, CEO Easy Media Empire and founder of Ghana Music Awards UK lashed back at MUSIGA stating that the allegations were ludicrous and deplorable, as the organisation has never solicited in such acts. Eric states “We at Ghana Music Awards UK are a professional organisation; we would not engage ourselves in such acts. Our reputation is very important to us and we would not want to jeopardise that; further more there has been no such incident or case against us, and I believe if such incident had taken place, we as a registered company would not have been allowed to continue to organise the event for the past three years.
Eric also stated ‘Alhaji Sidiku Buari (President of MUSIGA) claims that he has no knowledge of the event, which is totally untrue as he attended and presented an award at the first Ghana Music Awards UK event in 2003, our organisation abides with the laws of the land, and no one is obliged to seek approval from MUSIGA if they want to be a part of this prestigious event. The incident of the persons claiming to be musicians and absconding to Switzerland has nothing to do with our organisation or event, which leads us to say that all the allegations against us are ‘illogical’.
Community Bishop Frimpong Manso, (Founder and Head Bishop of Reconciliation Church and Chairman of Broadwater Farms Community, London and Member of the Committee of the Ghana Music Awards) states, “The Ghana Music Awards UK event’s aim is to ‘establish international recognition for Ghanaian Musicians’, the event has been running successfully for nearly three years and as a Committee Member it is my duty to ensure that the right strategies, practices, procedures and initiatives are implemented, measured and evaluated and I can sincerely confirm that we are doing just that; we do not and will not tolerate (or participate) in such unlawful acts; hence our reputation is important to us and to the Ghanaian community in the UK.
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