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Tag: Kirani Ayat

  • GTA CEO Akwasi Agyeman claims Kirani Ayat wasn’t ready for a partnership

    GTA CEO Akwasi Agyeman claims Kirani Ayat wasn’t ready for a partnership

    CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman, has shared an update on the resolution of the copyright infringement dispute between the government and musician Kirani Ayat.

    The controversy arose in 2022 when Ayat accused the government of using excerpts from his Guda music video in a tourism promotional clip without his permission.

    The video, which was shared on X by President Nana Akufo-Addo on September 27, 2022, to mark World Tourism Day, featured visuals from Ayat’s acclaimed single.

    When he finally met with the GTA and got compensated, the authority also promised that “moving forward, Ayat and GTA will collaborate on a number of projects aimed at showcasing Ghana, our beautiful landscapes, and exciting talents to the world.”

    In an interview with Andy Dosty on Hitz FM, however, the CEO of the GTA, Akwasi Agyeman disclosed that even though the government was willing to work with the musician, he was not available for their intended project when they reached out to him.

    “We reached an agreement and a settlement. And then in that agreement we said going forward we will work together. So this was somewhere in the middle of the year. So when we were doing our December programme, we reached out to him and his team, because he is from Navrongo.

    We are even keen and eager to have programmes in other parts of the country apart from Accra, Cape Coast, and Takoradi, which is dominating the December in the GH calendar. And he said they were not ready.

    Since then we have not actually heard from him. So we haven’t been able to go the whole nine yards with him,” he said on Daybreak Hitz.

    Akwasi Agyeman further noted that the authority is still open to working with Kirani Ayat when he is ready.

    “But we are still keen on working with him,” he said.

    In 2022, when Kirani Ayat raised concerns about copyright infringement, he revealed that he had previously contacted the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture to endorse his Guda music video as a tourism promotional tool for northern Ghana but received no response.

    Following the resolution of the dispute, Ayat remained silent on the compensation amount. However, he confirmed the Ghana Tourism Authority’s statement that they had reached an agreement to collaborate on future tourism projects.

  • Ghanaian artiste Layla Fenton’s out with new single, ‘Mama’

    After serving listeners with sensational compositions such as ‘Weekend’ and ‘Liar’ which featured Kirani Ayat, Layla Fenton is back with a new song ‘MAMA’.

    Layla Fenton is a Ghanaian Montserratian singer and songwriter who preaches Afro Fusion as her sound derived from a blend of several genres such as R&B, Soul, Reggae, Pop, Rock, Hiphop and live band highlife from her Ghanaian and Caribbean culture.

    Drawing inspiration from a phase in her life where she needed parental figures for her growth and stability as a young adult, she describes her experiences (both good and bad) with men and talks about how the presence of a father figure would have avoided a lot of mistakes she made.

    Ghanaian artiste Layla Fenton’s out with new single, ‘Mama’

    She then continues to narrate how she turned a deaf ear to the advice of her mother and aunties which often led to strains in her relationships with them concerning her love life.

    The second part of the song throws light on the fact that her mistakes have led her to her current situation and she admits she has made a mess and therefore has to resolve her mistakes.

    On a path of self-reflection and a reality check, she shows remorse for her decisions and seeks absolution from God and her mother-like figures in her life and she is in dire need of direction from them which will be a win for her personally.

    Highly influenced by pioneers of the 90’s music era such as Whitney Houston, Dru Hill, Outkast and Caribbean and West African music, Layla is able to blend her mother tongue “Ga” with English to compose a beautiful masterpiece with which Ghanaian-based Nigerian producer Major Mynor lays the foundation with a heavily influenced instrumental made of live band sound to complete this piece of work.

    With previous records of Layla indicating her lyricism and musical dexterity, she is a force to reckon and a talent to watch out for in the coming years.

    MAMA is out on all platforms for streaming and downloading purposes.

    Source:myjoyonline.com

  • Copyright case: Kirani Ayat and GTA finally settle their differences

    Musician Kirani Ayat has announced that his team and the Ghana Tourism Authority have finally settled the copyright infringement matter.

    In a joint press statement posted via his Twitter account on Monday, October 31, 2022, the ‘Guda’ hitmaker who has been in the news for some time due to a misunderstanding between himself and the Ghana Tourism Authority, admitted to having settled their differences.

    ” On September 27, 2022, Mr. Ayat Maqwam, aka Kirani Ayat became aware that visual outtakes of his “Guda” video had been used by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) without his consent.

    According to GTA, these visuals have been used extensively since 2019 for the production of various contents promoting tourism to the country.

    We are pleased to announce that the parties have reached an amicable agreement in settlement.

    Moving forward, Ayat and GTA will collaborate on a number of projects aimed at showcasing Ghana, our beautiful landscapes, and exciting talents to the world.

    Ayat appreciates all support from the good people of Ghana throughout this process. His new project, Aisha’s Sun is available now on all music streaming platforms” the statement said.

    This comes after Kirani Ayat called out the Ghana Tourism Authority in a Twitter post for using some visuals of his ‘Guda’ song, in a Tourism promotional video for the president without his consent weeks back.

    Kirani Ayat who was not pleased to see his work used without his consent noted that he spent money on making the video without aid from anyone and yet he was not compensated after his content was used.

    But, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) dismissed claims that some footage used for the new tourism promotional video was pirated.

    In a press statement, the Authority stated that they procured the footage Kirani Ayat is claiming ownership of legitimately from a creative agency in 2019 as part of a project.

    However, Samsal denied giving the Authority the go-ahead to use a mood board type of visual presentation or ‘collage’ consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition containing Kirani Ayat’s video.

    According to the company, the video reel they showed the GTA was only to give them an example of the type of content they intend to produce for the Authority as part of their agreement.

    They added that the GTA also did not use the video reel they initially created.

    Source:pulse.com

  • ‘My copyright case against GTA is under control’ – Kirani Ayat

    Weeks after calling out the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) for using excerpts of his music video, Guda, without permission, Kirani Ayat says that the issue is now under control.

    In an interview on Daybreak Hitz on Thursday, the Sarki rapper said that the GTA admitted that it was inappropriate for them to use his material without seeking clearance from him or the music video director, David Nicol-Sey.

    “They acknowledged that the right thing wasn’t done,” he referenced GTA on Hitz FM.

    This comes after Kirani Ayat and Ghana Tourism Authority and the lawyers of both parties met behind closed doors to settle the issue amicably.

    During subsequent meetings, the GTA proposed to work with Kirani Ayat and other artists in promoting Ghana through tourism.

    When asked whether the GTA has agreed to reimburse him for infringing upon his intellectual property right, Kirani Ayat said: “There has to be compensation. It has come up in the discussion.”

    Responding to the “how much are you looking at?” question posed by the host, Kirani Ayat said: “To be honest, it just has to be fair. That’s all. Once it’s fair, then that’s it.

    “And I feel like we have an understanding so it will eventually work out either this week or the next so we can let the public know. People are so eager to find out how it is going to end because it is an important topic,” he told Andy Dosty.

    Kirani Ayat also added that the issue has become popular on social media partly because a lot of artists have been trying to get support from the government but to no avail.

    The rapper believes his copyright case with the GTA serves as a wake-up call to the relevant entities to do the right thing by working with artists to promote Ghana through arts and tourism.

    Born Ayat Maqwam, his debut album, Aisha’s Sun is now out in all music stores.

    Source:myjoyonline.com

  • How Akufo-Addo forced peers to watch Jay-Z, Beyonce perform at Global Citizen concert in 2018

    President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2018 caused his colleagues to sit through a Global Citizen Festival held in South Africa.

    The circumstances under which this happened was narrated by deputy Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts minister, Mark Okraku Mantey who was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programe.

    The 2018 concert took place at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, and was part of the Global Citizen group’s annual concert held in New York Central Park and concurrently in another major African city.

    The particular edition was also connected to the Mandela 100 celebration, so it had a number of African leaders in attendance.

    “At the time, most of the presidents were tired and so they wanted to find a way asking them to leave, but the host who is the South African president couldn’t leave until they get the other people to accept that they also wanted to leave.

    “So, they were unlucky that they spoke to President Akufo-Addo first and in the diplomatic way that is how they operate. ‘O Mr. President, would you want to leave?’

    “He says no, ‘I am waiting for Jay-Z and Beyonce.’ They were the headliners. So, the rest of the presidents have to wait, they couldn’t leave, that is the history to president Akufo-Addo’s visit to that event.

    “After the event, he showed interest, that he wouldn’t mind seeing this in Ghana,” this was how the organizers slated it for Ghana this year.

    The September 24, 2022 concert has, however, become the center of controversy after it emerged that the president was booed by a section of the crowd. It has led to political ‘football’ with the governing and opposition parties in the middle of the fight.

    The edition Akufo-Addo attended was held on Dec. 2, 2018, with performances from the likes of Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Sho Madjozi, Cassper Nyovest, Ed Sheeran, and many other incredible acts.

    Source:ghanaweb.com

  • MadeInGhanaOnEtv: Folklore preservation is not the sole responsibility of government – Folklore Board

    Executive Director of the National Folklore Board, Bernice Ann Deh-Kumah, posits private individuals and organizations should up their efforts in the preservation of the country’s folklore.

    She argues it is high time all beneficiaries of the country’s folklore contribute to its preservation and not dump the burden on government.

    “In other countries the government doesn’t not preserve their folklore on its own, but receives backing and support from some individuals and NGOs. It will come as no surprise to me if the cost of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral was not borne by monarch alone,” she stated.

    Calling for increased contribution to the preservation of folklore, Mrs. Deh-Kumah indicated that the usage of Ghanaian symbols abound both locally and internationally “but no one wants to pay a token towards the preservation of our culture and that is bad. We should not leave the preservation of folklore to government alone.”

    It is simply sad Ghanaians home and abroad appreciate the value of folklore but refuse to contribute towards it preservation. The fear is that the refusal to preserve folklore can lead to its extinction.

  • Supa Gaeta releases ‘Road to DND’ EP

    This tape features Bryan The Mensah, Yung Pabi, Kirani Ayat and many other young cats in the Accra drill pop scene.

    Born Solomon Boako-Aggrey, Supa Gaeta is a Ghanaian Afro-fusion musician, producer and sound engineer who loves blending urban, high-life, hip-hop and trap sounds. He is a young prolific genius who got into beat-making early in his life because he loved to experiment on sounds that he had heard in other songs, movies and any form of melody he came across.

    Supa Gaeta began to make music in high school as a hobby where his craft and style were heavily influenced by the late 90s and early 2000s Hip-hop, RnB and Hiplife by listening to the likes of Aaliyah, Bow wow, B2K, Static Major of Playa, Pretty Ricky, Ofori Amponsah, Kofi Nti and others.

    His skits and freestyles on his social media when he took on music as a career received nods from industry giants including Mr Eazi, Kizz Daniel, GuiltyBeatz, Jae 5, Magnom Beats and more.

    Afterwards, Supa Gaeta released his long-awaited ‘SUPA SZN’ with appearances from Oxlade, Blaqbonez and Wavy The Creator.

    “It is important to me to tell my story how I know how to. All my experiences; the good, the bad, the ugly, Supa Gaeta said.

    Source:ghanaweb.com

  • Trigmatic wades into Kirani Ayat and GTA feud

    Ghanaian musician and songwriter, Enoch Nana Yaw Oduro-Agyei, alias Trigmatic, has added his voice to growing calls for the intellectual property rights of creatives to be respected.

    In a post shared on Twitter, Trigmatic lamented how creatives have serially had their intellectual property rights trampled upon.

    He said it will only take prosecution of persons who disregard such rights to ensure that the narrative changes.

    The artiste wants the exploitation of creatives to cease and due compensation paid appropriately.

    “Regardless of what the real story is, I expect to see creatives stand behind @KiraniAYAT as this could be a good case study for many others in time past and the future. IP and it’s issues are often taken for granted this side and until people are prosecuted for such offences.

    “Our crafts will continually be taken for granted. It’s one person today and could be you tomorrow. Stop exploiting talents and do the needful,” Trigmatic tweeted on September 29.

    It will be recalled that Kirani Ayat called out the Ghana Tourism Authority, GTA, for using part of his video in a promotional video which was shared on the Twitter handle of President Akufo-Addo.

    The GTA in response said it legitimately acquired it from an agency, later named as Samsal.

    However in a sharp turn of events, Samsal denied authorizing the Authority to use the video (a mood board) which featured parts of Kirani Ayat’s video.

    In a September 28, 2022 statement, the agency explained that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GTA to promote Digital Wrist Band – a wrist band that granted access to highly sought after events slated for the Christmas season – to tourists and foreigners.

    Per the MoU, the agency said GTA was to give it the needed support in terms of finances and logistics in order to produce video content to market Ghana to the world in that regard.

    Consequently, Samsal said it put together a video reel (mood board) for the GTA that included parts of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video to demonstrate the vision it had for videos it intended to subsequently create for the campaign.

    Source:ghanaweb.com

     

  • Creatives are taken for granted -Sarkodie

    Multiple award winning rapper Sarkodie is not excited that people in authority use the works of creatives yet the sector continues to lack support.

    In a series of tweets yesterday, September 28 to lend his support to fellow artiste, Kirani Ayat who called out the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) for using his works to promote domestic tourism without his permission, the Adonai hitmaker said such happenings were forcing creatives to give up their dreams.

    “A lot of creatives giving up on their dreams due to the system out here, it’s either you wanna join the mediocre or you quit (if you wanna do something epic) because it’s no joke… we talking serious money…

    “We (creatives) do a lot to put our country out there attracting a lot of tourists and investors that translates to money to help nation building yet that’s one sector with no support. I feel my brother and support him especially if he actually reached out and didn’t get help,” he tweeted.

    Background

    Ayat first raised concerns about the use of his Guda music video when it was shared by the Twitter handle of President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, September 27.

    According to him, he reached out to the Ministry of Tourism for support before shooting the said music video but he was turned down.

    The video was shot in northern Ghana and features the local culture.

    On Tuesday Ayat tweeted: “The President of Ghana has used my video ‘Guda’ 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’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission”.

    Responding to the musician’s concerns in a statement yesterday, the GTA said the footage was acquired legitimately from a creative agency in 2019.

    However, the GTA said it had contacted the agency to deal with the matter.

    “This video has thus been played locally and internationally without any issue. The content was used in accordance with the terms agreed with the agency and not as being alleged,” the GTA said.

    In a response to the GTA’s statement, Kirani Ayat in a statement said no agency had any rights to his “intellectual property”.

    He also urged the GTA to name and direct the agency to produce documents to show that he had an agreement with them.

    The issue has sparked interest from players in the entertainment industry and beyond, with many launching a ‘Compensate Ayat’ social media campaign.

    Musician Pure Akan also showed his support by tweeting: “Compensate Ayat”.

    Source:graphiconline.com

  • After the Kirani Ayat’s video theft charges, another charge hits Akufo-Addo’s camp

    Another musician, Fuse ODG, has issued a statement saying his legal team is in contact with the authority for using his video for the promotional video in question without his approval. While the mystery surrounding the Ghana Tourism Authority’s use of Kirani Ayat’s video without the musician’s consent has yet to be clarified.

    “As a company, we feel that the last few days have exposed an issue in Ghana that goes beyond the office of the President: The lack of respect and understanding of intellectual property.

    “We have sanctioned works in the past for government use, most notably, our 2018 record “Bra Fie” ft Damian Marley, which was used as the theme song for the Year of Return; which we launched via our TINA festival alongside the President,” parts of the statement issued on September 29, 2022, read.

    While sympathising with Kirani Ayat, Fuse ODG and his New Africa Nation in the press statement said the government has made mistakes “in this situation, but hopefully, they can simply hold their hand up and take corrective action to compensate accordingly.

    “Going forward, the solution must be to invest in more education around intellectual property. This is something the ministry can do both internally and for the creative sector as a whole. Ghana has always been an influential voice in music globally and a lot more can be done to support artists from an early stage.

    “In the meantime, our legal teams are in discussion with the ministry and their legal team in order to resolve this issue.”

    The last few days have exposed an issue in Ghana that goes beyond the Office of the President, Ghana ???????? …@ghanatourismGTA @NakufoAddo pic.twitter.com/PSBpah3g2i

    — Fuse ODG (@FuseODG) September 29, 2022

    Kirani Ayat fights Akufo-Addo, GTA

    Kirani Ayat in a tweet accused President Akufo-Addo of using excerpts of his music video ‘GUDA’ for a promotional ad.

    “The president of Ghana has used my video ‘GUDA’ 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’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,” he shared on September 28, 2022.

    The Ghana Tourism Authority in response said contrary to the claim by the musician, the footage was acquired legitimately through an agency and has been using it since 2019.

    “For the record, the footage in question was acquired legitimately from a bespoke creative agency as part of a project in 2019.

    “This 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,” the GTA statement read.

    Agency responds

    The agency at the center of Kirani Ayat and the Ghana Tourism Authority, GTA, feud, Samsal, has denied ever granting permission to the Authority to use the promotional video it produced with some part of the musician’s video.

    In a September 28, 2022 statement, the agency explained that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GTA to promote Digital Wrist Band – a wrist band that granted access to highly sought-after events slated for the Christmas season – to tourists and foreigners.

    Per the MoU, the agency said GTA was to give it the needed support in terms of finances and logistics in order to produce video content to market Ghana to the world in that regard.

    Consequently, Samsal said it put together a video reel (mood board) for the GTA that included parts of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video to demonstrate the vision it had for videos it intended to subsequently create for the campaign.

    It stated emphatically that it did grant GTA the permission to share the mood board whiles also categorically denying that the video put out by the Authority and president was not the very one it had created.

  • We never authorized GTA to use Kirani Ayat’s video – Samsal Agency

    The agency at the center of Kirani Ayat and the Ghana Tourism Authority, GTA, feud, Samsal, has denied ever granting permission to the Authority to use the promotional video it produced with some part of the musician’s video.

    In a September 28, 2022 statement, the agency explained that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GTA to promote Digital Wrist Band – a wrist band that granted access to highly sought after events slated for the Christmas season – to tourists and foreigners.

    Per the MoU, the agency said GTA was to give it the needed support in terms of finances and logistics in order to produce video content to market Ghana to the world in that regard.

    Consequently, Samsal said it put together a video reel (mood board) for the GTA that included parts of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video to demonstrate the vision it had for videos it intended to subsequently create for the campaign.

    It stated emphatically that it did grant GTA the permission to share the mood board whiles also categorically denying that the video put out by the Authority and president was not the very one it had created.

    “We put together a video reel (“mood board”) which we showed to the GTA as inspiration and creative direction for the videos we intended to produce during the campaign. The mood board was a mash up of scenes from different videos, including the video for Ayat’s “GUDA”, and other videos shot by David Nicol-Sey, a fellow creative who we have worked on several campaigns with (and who directed the campaign video for Discovery Bands).

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the video which the President and the GTA have put in circulation is not the mood board we created. It contains snippets from the mood board. However, we never authorized the GTA to publish the mood board or sense from it. The signed MoU was explicit that our delivery obligations related to new content which would be financed by the GTA,” part of the statement read.

    The Agency further revealed that following the failure of GTA to deliver on its financial obligation as agreed upon under the MoU, it used it own funds to create a video to promote Discovery Bands.

    It stated that even though it submitted it to GTA, the Authority is yet to publish its works which it said contained ‘lovely scenes from Ghana’.

    The agency maintained that it was therefore taken aback when it sighted the ‘repurposed’ publication of the earlier mood board it created on various platforms.

    “Unfortunately, the GTA did not finance the creation of any work as agreed. Using our own funds, we created our own video (see enclosed) to promote Discovery Bands and submitted same to GTA. The GTA has not posted the Discovery Bands video (which also depicts lovely scenes from Ghana and which we worked with David Nicol-Sey to shoot) nor has it fulfilled any of its content financing obligations under our MoU.

    “It, therefore, came as a surprise to us when we noticed that content from the mood board has been repurposed and put into circulation instead of the GTA fulling its obligations under the MoU by providing us with logistics and budgetary support for the creation of similar content to market Ghana,” the statement said.

    The revelation by Samsal contradicts the stance of the Ghana Tourism Authority which claimed earlier during the brewing copyright saga that it legitimately acquired permission from an agency [later named Samsal] for the use of the promotional video which featured portions of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video.

    It will be recalled that Kirani Ayat took to Twitter to express his displeasure at the use of his works without permission.

    He was reacting to a tourism promotion video that was posted on President Akufo-Addo’s Twitter handle.

    “The president of Ghana has used my video “GUDA” 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’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,” Kirani Ayat tweeted.

    Read Below The Statement from Samsal Agency

  • Three times Akufo-Addo’s government has breached intellectual property rights

    The government is currently battling a case of intellectual property breach arising from the use of video content in a ‘Visit Ghana’ campaign promo.

    But it is not the first time the Akufo-Addo government has found itself in such an unpleasant situation.

    On its first day in office, the president had egg on his face when it emerged that portions of his speech had been plagiarized. There has been one other blunder in between the January 2017 incident and the recent one.

     Particulars of the three incidents are;

    Ghana Tourism Authority vs. Kirani Ayat

    Musician Kirani Ayat had reason to call out the government after it emerged that a ‘Visit Ghana’ video posted on the social media handle of the President earlier this week had footage that belonged to him.

    Whereas he insists that no government agency had sought his permission to use the material, the Ghana Tourism Authority, GTA, which produced the video said it had received authorization from an agency, Samsal, to use the material dismissing reports of intellectual property breach.

    In a September 28, 2022 statement, the agency explained that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GTA to promote Digital Wrist Band – a product that granted access to highly sought after events slated for the Christmas season – to tourists and foreigners.

    Per the MoU, the agency said GTA was to give it the needed support in terms of finances and logistics in order to produce video content to market Ghana to the world in that regard.

    Consequently, Samsal said it put together a video reel (mood board) for the GTA that included parts of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video to demonstrate the vision it had for videos it intended to subsequently create for the campaign.

    “We put together a video reel (“mood board”) which we showed to the GTA as inspiration and creative direction for the videos we intended to produce during the campaign.

    “The mood board was a mash up of scenes from different videos, including the video for Ayat’s “GUDA”, and other videos shot by David Nicol-Sey, a fellow creative who we have worked on several campaigns with (and who directed the campaign video for Discovery Bands).

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the video which the President and the GTA have put in circulation is not the mood board we created. It contains snippets from the mood board. However, we never authorized the GTA to publish the mood board or sense from it. The signed MoU was explicit that our delivery obligations related to new content which would be financed by the GTA,” part of the statement read.

    Ghana Beyond Aid document ‘steals’ photo of Kenya skyline

    In 2019, it emerged that the Ghana Beyond Aid office had used a photo of Nairobi skyline for the cover page of its official document.

    The document was put together by a committee headed by the then senior minister and was launched by President Akufo-Addo on May Day.

    It depicted high rise buildings over a green landscape. One of the buildings in the image, however, turned out to be the headquarters of Dawit Insurance in Nairobi.

    The Ghana Beyond Aid Charter and Strategy Document was 61 paged and had seven chapters spelling out the role of government and citizens to wean the country off dependence of donors.

    An apology was subsequently rendered for the gaffe.

    2017 inauguration speech and Bush’s plagiarized paragraphs

    Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo came under fire on Sunday when it emerged that his inaugural address plagiarized quotes from speeches by U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, this is how a Reuters report of January 8 started off.

    The two sentences that had become center of the pliagiarism row that had taken over social media were:

    “I ask you to be citizens, citizens not spectators, citizens not subjects, responsible citizens building your communities and our nation,” and.

    “Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people and we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.”

    The Reuters report observed that, the first sentence almost matched one from George Bush’s inaugural address in 2001, while the second mirrors Bill Clinton’s inaugural speech in 1993 with only the country name changed.

    The Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin explained that the issued were “complete oversight and never deliberate,” noting that the speech contained four correctly attributed quotations.

     

  • How BBC reported Akufo-Addo graphic ‘theft’

    President Akufo-Addo has been accused of an alleged theft of some graphical excerpts after he [Akufo-Addo] shared a video to promote his tourism agenda.

    This followed a post the president shared via his Twitter handle.

    Budding Ghanaian musician, Kirani Ayat, accused the president of using graphical excerpts in his music video without his consent.

    According to Ayat, this was after the Ministry failed to heed his [Kirani Ayat] plea to use the song ‘GUDA’ to endorse tourism in the North.

    “The president of Ghana has used my video ‘GUDA’ 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’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,” he shared.

    After the disclosure by the artiste, some concerned citizens have taken up the issue to address it with the hopes that the president will give the artiste the needed decorum for using his property.

    In reaction to this, the Ghana Tourism Authority has responded to the claims by Kirani Ayat.

    In a statement, the Ghana Tourism Authority said the footage was acquired legitimately through an agency and has been using it since 2019.

    “For the record, the footage in question was acquired legitimately from a bespoke creative agency as part of a project in 2019.

    “This 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,” the statement said.

    However, the international media was not left out in this development.

    See how BBC reported the story:

    The BBC’s report was captioned “Ghana president accused of breaching copyright ”.

    Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has been accused of using a musician’s work without permission or credit to advertise the country to tourists. Ghanaian musician Kirani Ayat said he reached out to the government for support before shooting his Guda music video but he was turned down. The video was shot in northern Ghana and features scenic views and showcases the local culture. On Tuesday Ayat lashed out at the president after he shared a promo video:

    Kirani said he worked a 12-hour shift as a security guard for seven days over a three-month period to save money for the video production costs.

    “I reached out a couple of times to no avail. I was depressed throughout that period,” the musician wrote. The government is yet to respond to the copyright allegations.

    Ghanaians on social media have encouraged the musician to sue the government for copyright infringement. Ghana has previously marketed the country for tourism with the famous year of return initiative launched in 2019 termed a great success by the government.

    Several international celebrities visited the country that year.

    Source: Ghanaweb.com

  • Why is anyone surprised at Akufo-Addo? – Bridget Otoo wades into Ayat’s accusations

    Broadcast journalist and social commentator, Bridget Otoo, appears to have expressed shock at Ghanaians for acting surprised at the president for using graphical content from Kirani Ayat without the consent of the musician.

    According to the journalist, considering that the president’s speech during his inauguration was plagiarised, his decision to use the works of a musician without permission should not come as news to anyone.

    “Why is anyone surprised at @NAkufoAddo taking creatives content without asking for permission? his inaugural speech as president was plagiarized. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time – Maya Angelou,” she tweeted.

    Kirani Ayat while reacting to a post by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Tuesday, accused the president of using graphical excerpts in his music video to promote his tourism agenda.

    On September 27, 2022, a video was shared on Twitter by the President of Ghana to promote tourism in the country and welcome expatriates into the country.

    The video caption read, “Beneath the deep blue sky, the Black Star is calling. Follow the stars and let them take you on a journey of our people. I invite everyone to the country at the centre of the world.”

    In a tweet that highlighted the tweet, Kirani Ayat said the president had used his video without consulting him.

    According to Ayat, this was after the Ministry failed to heed his [Kirani Ayat] plea to use the song ‘GUDA’ to endorse tourism in the North.

    Source:ghanaweb.com

     

  • Musician ‘exposes’ Akufo-Addo over graphic theft

    Ghanaian musician, Kirani Ayat, has reacted to a post Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made accusing the president of using graphical excerpts in his music video to promote his tourism agenda.

    On September 27, 2022, a video was shared on Twitter by the President of Ghana to promote tourism in the country and welcome expatriates into the country.

    The video caption read, “Beneath the deep blue sky, the Black Star is calling. Follow the stars and let them take you on a journey of our people. I invite everyone to the country at the centre of the world.”

    In a tweet that highlighted the tweet, Kirani Ayat said the president had used his video without consulting him.

    According to Ayat, this was after the Ministry failed to heed his [Kirani Ayat] plea to use the song ‘GUDA’ to endorse tourism in the North.

    “The president of Ghana has used my video “GUDA” 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’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,” he shared.

    After the disclosure by the artiste, some concerned citizens have taken up the issue to address it with the hopes that the president will give the artiste the needed decorum for using his property.

    Source:ghanaweb.com