FOCAP is surprised at the false alarm raised by the Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) – Dr Steve Manteaw over the whereabouts of the findings of the 2 Million Ghana Cedis research which was commissioned by Musiga and funded by Government of Ghana with support from World Bank, Vodafone, Ideal Finance, Kasapreko and Midland Savings and Loans.
In an interview with Adom fm, Dr Steve Manteaw said that Musiga could not present findings of the 2 million Ghana Cedis allocated by government to PIAC.
FOCAP’s research has proven that, this assertion is a blatant lie. FOCAP can say on authority that there has been no formal or informal communication between PIAC and Musiga requesting for the report. PIAC though interested in the matter of the usage of the 2 million Ghana Cedis should have done the needful by asking the right sources for the report rather than throwing dust in the eyes of the public and ridiculing the entire music industry and dragging its name into the mud.
In 2012 Musiga sought out to collate economic information on the music sector to enable it to prepare a medium-term strategic plan in line with the Government of Ghana medium term plan known as the Ghana Shared Growth and Development (2010-2013). Primarily it was to
1 – Conduct Research
2 – Organise Ghana Music Week (2013)
3 – Capacity Building.
Musiga presented a draft report in November 2014 and the 292 page final report was launched during Musiga grand ball and presented it to them minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare and the first copy of the report was also presented to then President John Mahama in 2015.
FOCAP believes PIAC should; with immediate effect apologize to the entire music industry and Musiga for the misinformation and not really taking into consideration the negative effect of the chairman’s comment.
FOCAP also wants Dr Steve Manteaw to redraw the unpalatable comment which he was quoted as saying “How Can You Allocate Such Huge Sum of Money to Musiga for Capacity Building under the Utilization of the Oil Revenue”.
FOCAP wants to make it clear to that Musiga only requested money from government and not from the oil fund so government should be questioned and not Musiga.
Again Dr Manteaw is creating an erroneous impression that the entertainment industry is not important and doesn’t deserve such allocations. FOCAP believes the entertainment industry has the potential to be a major employer and an income earner and should not be downplayed and disrespected like Dr Manteaw seems to do and to suggest.
If PIAC and Dr Manteaw think that anything untoward has happened they should refer it to the right quarters instead of casting insinuations, aspersions and name calling just to give the industry a bad name. The industry is worth more than 2million Ghana Cedis and if PIAC is not ready to help shape it, PIAC should not ridicule it.
FOCAP wants the Creative Industry to recognize the fact that the only part of the industry that has been researched and has its research available is the music sector.
Kojo Preko Dankwa Mel Kwesi Davis Enoch Agyapong
Convener Convener Convener
0576655656 0246550298 0244712136
Submitted (Unedited)
