Abraham Adjatey, Chief Operations Officer of GHAMRO
The Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), a collective society, has scheduled Monday, April 19, 2021, as the confirmed date for its upcoming emergency general meeting at the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Kumasi.
A statement issued and signed by its communication manager, Prince Don Tsegah, said the decision to hold the emergency meeting has been occasioned by calls from the membership of the society nationwide, further to Section 6.6 (1) of the GHAMRO Constitution.
At the meeting, which is expected to be attended by music right owners, various reports, including royalty distribution, audited reports, upcoming elections of board members among others, will be discussed.
Right owners will also have in-depth discussions on the affairs of GHAMRO, past, present and future.
The agenda of the meeting is to report the state of the society to its members, appoint an interim body to approve expenditure and for the election committee to update the members.
It will be recalled that an election committee was elected at the annual congress held in Kumasi on October 14, 2020, to oversee the elections in March 2021 and swear in a new board.
According to the statement, in the course of the subsequent process, twelve aspirants picked forms to contest, out of which three (3) persons were disqualified after the vetting, on the grounds of having contested on two consecutive terms further to Section 4.4 (2) of the new constitution which states that “a member of the board may be re-elected for another term but not more than two consecutive terms.”
Following the petition by the three disqualified members to the board, it was decided that the committee should allow all aspirants to compete in an open contest to avoid any legal action that may delay the process.
The election committee however, stuck to its decision, during which period the board also exited after its term expired and handed over to management.
This situation was the result of the postponement of the election on three occasions. Subsequently, management met with the election committee on March 25, 2021 and April 6, 2021 on a roadmap and wrote to the Attorney General for assistance for the interpretation and application of the provisions 4.4 of the constitution.
Having regard to ensuring a good corporate process, with respect to congress appointing an interim board to approve operational and administrative costs, coupled with the calls by members, management has opted in response to Section 6.6(2), to organise the extra-ordinary general meeting as indicated.