OBOUR APPOINTS MORE MEMBERS; MUSIGA RE-REGISTRATION

MUSIGA Will Re-Register Its Members –Obour

September 30th, 2011

Obour

Newly-elected president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bice Osei Kufour, has said that the union is taking new steps to increase its membership and also get a new database.
As a result, the union would be embarking on a massive re-registering programme from October 12 at the National Theatre in Accra to re-register old members and register new members.
It is not quite clear how MUSIGA’s constitution approves of the re-registration of old members but Obour said the decision fell within the tenets of their constitution as every member, after a every year, needed to renew his/her membership.
“MUSIGA has membership of 3000, with 800 members.  By the end of our tenure of office, we would have increased MUSIGA membership by 500 percent. We will be embarking on a massive re-registering programme.
“So I use this opportunity to inform everybody that on October 12 at the National Theatre, the process will start. Be you an arranger, sound engineer, programmer, chorister, bands man and anybody who has to do with music, you can come to register,” Obour said.
He made the statements at a press conference on Wednesday at MUSIGA office to announce a long list of musicians he will be working with and his four-year blue print to make life better for his fellow musicians in Ghana.
He said his administration’s main focus for the four-year mandate would be finding absolute solutions to the numerous problems of musicians, rebranding MUSIGA to be extremely attractive to investors and also ensure a culture of accountability and transparency.
He said his administration would provide free healthcare and free legal advice for its members on music-related issues. He also promised to ensure that they provided a pension scheme for members as well as encourage music education in schools.
Obour said his administration would work closely with Government to bring about policies that would inure to their benefit, emphasizing they would do the same with event organizers.
The above, he claimed, were just an overview of the broader program he planned to undertake within his four-year tenure.
He took the opportunity to name a number of musicians who are part of his administration and swore them into office.
Some of the persons sworn in included Rex Omar, chairman of business and finance committee; Ben Brako, chairman of fund raising committee; Nana Tuffour, director of highlife; Dela Hayes as national women’s organiser; Blakk Rasta as African music ambassador; Rocky Dawuni as world music ambassador; Obrafour as director of hiplife; Okyeame Kwame as public relations officer; Tic Tac as director of music relations directorate.

(SOURCE: NEWSONE :http://www.news1ghana.com/?p=18565)

NORTHERN PRESENTERS UNION PRAISE OBOUR

The Northern Presenters Union (NPU) has sent a two-man delegation to pay a courtesy call on the newly elected President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bice Osei Kuffuor known in the showbiz circles as Obour.

The visit was to officially congratulate Obour for his victory and also to pledge commitment and support for his presidency. The delegation from the North consisted of the two top presenters in the Northern Region, Gideon Kofi Adarkwah, the Events Coordinator and Drive Time Host of Diamond Fm and Alhassan Abdul Latif, Drive Time Host of Northern Star Fm and General Manager of Creative Multi Media.

“The just ended victory of Bice Osei Kuffour as the new President of MUSIGA is a victory not for him alone, but for the entire showbiz fraternity; from the composer, to the engineer, musician, promoter, the DJ, the presenter and all,” Gideon Kofi Adarkwah noted. Gideon added that the union was optimistic that Obour would perform well within the four-year period given him.

“On behalf of the Northern Presenters Union, we wish to congratulate Obour for the victory won for the youth of Ghana, and also wish him well in his quest of reviving MUSIGA with his 7 point AJUMAPA concept which we strongly believe touched the delegates hearts; hence his triumph in the 5th Quadrennial Congress.

“Before Obour joined the race, I personally had wished that MUSIGA gets a young blood to inject some urgency and innovative ideas into salvaging the union, and the persons whose names dropped on my lips were Obour, Okyeame Kwame and Obrafour.

“There were several concerns that were raised about his age but the Northern Presenters Union never relented in our effort to support him openly and letting the entire world know that the time has come for a change that will see the young take up leadership positions and distinguish themselves.

“A change that will erase the negative perception about the youth in our country; and a change that will see musicians get jobs, have their welfare taken care of, promote accountability and unity amongst members,” Gideon explained. Alhassan Abdul-Latif appealed to Obour to create a cordial relationship between the Northern musicians and their managers, since there seemed to be some misunderstanding and lack of unity among that group.

Obour, on his part, expressed gratitude to the NPU for the confidence they had in him. He said it would go a long way in strengthening and challenging him to work even harder for MUSIGA. He encouraged the NPU to go the extra mile to support MUSIGA in its quest of raising the standards of Ghanaian music and improving the status of Ghanaian musicians.

Obour promised to initiate programs like the Northern Showbiz Awards and the Northern Music Awards to create the platform for northern based artists to get the exposure to become formidable stakeholders within the Ghanaian music industry.
SOURCE: NEWSONE /GHANAWEB :http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/artikel.php?ID=220288)

Obour and MUSIGA Executives visit Goodies

MUSIGA President Bice Osei Kuffour popularly known as Obour has led an entourage of MUSIGA executives and musicians to visit producer and artiste manager, Isaac Abaidoo popularly known as Goodies at the Nsawam Prison.

MUSIGA spokesman, Okyeame Kwame told Hitz FM that Goodies had been very supportive of the union so after Obour won the election he decided to visit him at Nsawam.
Goodies expressed his excitement at the honour accorded him by the visit of the MUSIGA leadership and thanked the entourage immensely for the visit.
Goodies is serving time for narcotics offences.
Okyeame Kwame noted that MUSIGA intends to collaborate with the Prisons service to organize entertainment for the prisoners in a form of soccer matches between musicians and prisoners. This is part of efforts by MUSIGA to help reorient the prisoners and also encourage them to be positive about their lives whilst in prison.
According to Okyeame the visit was also to change the perception about prisoners and also encourage families of prisoners to support them while in prison and also welcome them wholeheartedly when they are released.
Goodies managed a number of artistes, notably VIP.
In a related development, MUSIGA executives Wednesday visited Dr Kofi Amoah to thank him for his role as the chairman of the investiture of the new MUSIGA leadership.
Dr Amoah used the occasion to formally present to the leadership the $100,000.00 he promised the union.
He advised the leaders to use the money judiciously and also aim at reaching international markets with the works of Ghanaian artistes.
The delegation to Dr Amoah’s office included Hilife legends Amakye Dede, Nana Kwame Ampadu, MUSIGA treasurer Oheneba Kissi and 1st Vice President Kaakyire Kwame Appiah.
(SOURCE: Highlife Today: http://www.highlifetoday.com/2011/09/15/obour-and-musiga-executives-visit-goodies/

OBOUR PROMISES FREE HEALTH CARE TO MUSICIANS

OBOUR STORMS BOLGATANGA

Newly-elected President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and national tuberculosis ambassador, Bice Osei Kuffour, known in showbiz as Obour, brought business activities at the Bolgatanga Mass Metro Transport station to a halt following his campaign on tuberculosis on Tuesday, September 20, 2011.

Residents of Bolga who heard of the President's arrival trouped to the lorry park in their numbers to catch a glimpse of him. Obour noted that because of his commitment to embark on social educational campaigns, he was once again in the region to educate the citizenry of the Upper East region on tuberculosis.

The programme, which took the form of a durbar, was graced by important personalities including a representative of the paramount chief of the Bolgatanga traditional area, the regional officer in charge of tuberculosis, the founder and executive director of Youth Icons Ghana and traditional rulers.

A drama group led by the assembly man of the Bolgatanga electoral area, Hon. Bawa Agana, put up a play advising the people gathered at the venue to listen to the president. The drama, which was in the local dialect of the region, drew constant applauds from the people.

After the well-staged drama, Obour took his turn to throw more light on issues raised in the play. He

indicated that tuberculosis was curable and had nothing to do with spirituality, as the drama portrayed at a point.

He advised that people who had dry coughs for more than 7days should report to a hospital to seek medical care.

Obour, who was clad in a 'Fight Poverty stop TB' T-shirt, encouraged the audience to participate in the free HIV/AIDS testing that was going on during the TB campaign.

The regional TB officer, Mr. Samuel, also talked about the disease and said the regional health directorate was working hard to improve the health condition of the people of the region, adding that they had been recording some positive statistics on TB and other diseases.

He therefore called on all citizens of the region not to hesitate to call on a doctor once the symptoms mentioned occur.

After a very successful durbar, Obour and his team called on the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Awoonor- Williams.

Dr Awoonor -Williams was full of praise for Obour and said he had been following the exploits of the young man and was convinced that his appointment as national TB ambassador was perfect, judging from his other campaigns including the Road Safety Campaign, Ghana Reads Campaign and One Ghana Peace project.

The campaign would see Obour visiting towns like Saltpond, Suhum Krabo-Coaltar areas, Lower Manya and the Upper West region soon.

(STORY TAKEN FROM: MODERN GHANA/DAILY GUIDE)