On September 27, 2022, the President of Ghana shared a video on Twitter to promote tourism in the country and welcome expatriates into the country.
Just after Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo shared the post, Ghanaian musician, Kirani Ayat, accused Akufo-Addo of using graphical excerpts in his music video to promote his tourism agenda without his permission.
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 hope that the President will give the artiste the needed decorum for using his property.
In reaction to this, the Ghana Tourism Authority responded to the claims by Kirani Ayat.
In a statement, the Ghana Tourism Authority said the footage was acquired legitimately through an agency, and they have 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.
Barely 24 hours after Kirani Ayat's comments, another musician, Fuse ODG, issued a statement saying his legal team is in touch with the authority for using his video for the promotional video in question without his approval.
"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.
He added his legal team is in discussion with the ministry and their legal team in order to resolve this issue.
NYA/FNOQ
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo