The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) has finally settled on January 12, 2022, to hold national and regional elections for officers to run the organization after two years of a lawsuit and personal wrangling.
A statement from the union revealed that the decision was arrived at following interventions from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and a court decision that requested the litigants to resolve matters using the union’s internal mechanisms.
Next year’s elections will be the first time all paid members of the union will get the chance to vote. Previous MUSIGA elections involved electoral colleges selected from the regional branches. However, that method was scrapped after the last congress at Koforidua in 2015 which gave Bice Osei Kuffour (Obuor) a second mandate to be President.
According to the chairman of the MUSIGA National Election Committee, Peter Marfo, the committee completed vetting of candidates at both the national and regional levels and all is set for the candidates to campaign and prepare for the elections on January 12, 2022.
According to sources, over 104 candidates have been cleared to contest for 77 positions nationwide. Out of the 104 candidates, 10 are running for the seven positions at the national level. They are Bessa Simons, Ras Caleb Appiah-Levi, and Deborah Freeman for President; Samuel Kofi Agyemang and Francis Derman Dogbatsey for General Secretary and Rev. Dr. Thomas Yawson for 1st Vice-President. The rest are Abena Ruthy for 2nd Vice-President; Edward Edusa Eyison for Treasurer; Nii Adu Chizzy Wailer for Organiser and Gifty Oppong Ghansah for Welfare Officer.
The elections will be supervised by the Electoral Commission of Ghana. Both regional and national elections will take place on the same day in the capitals of the 10 old regions.
The union’s statement noted that “The elections are expected to herald the dawn of a new era for MUSIGA”.
Mark Okraku-Mantey and Mediators Resolve MUSIGA Election Impasse
Since 2019, the union was not able to hold elections to elect new leaders after the tenure of Bice Osei Kufour expired. This is because, MUSIGA was dragged to court by one of its presidential aspirants, Ras Caleb Appiah-Levi, alleging irregularities regarding the election process.
The plaintiff served as Accra Regional Chairman of MUSIGA during Obour’s administration. An Accra High Court in 2019 placed an interim injunction on the national elections by MUSIGA.
Though the case was dismissed by the court in March 2021, Ras Caleb Appiah-Levi was willing to go further to halt the intended elections.
The agitations within the Union led President Akufo-Addo, in 2020, to task Mark Okraku-Mantey, who was then President of the Creative Arts Council, to ensure that the long-standing internal legal tussle among the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) gets resolved.
After a number of meetings Mark Okraku-Mantey held with interested parties together with arbitrators, and with the help of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Minister, Dr. Awal Mohammed, a consensus was reached. Feuding members agreed to put aside their differences and set out modalities ahead of the election.
Present at the fruitful meeting were Bessa Simons, Ras Caleb Appiah-Levi, Diana Hopeson, Lawyer Kingsley Amoakwah, Perppy Tsahay, Deborah Freeman, Ahuma Bosco Ocansey, Gertrude Boamah, and other key members.
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