Author’s Rights

Musicians petition Biya against embezzlement, impunity
-Threaten court action against the Minister of Arts and Culture, Ama Tutu Muna
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
Cameroonian musicians are determined more than ever before to get the authorities to put order in the management of author’s rights in the country this, so that they can benefit commensurately the proceeds of their talents and efforts.
    The musicians under an umbrella association “Le collectif” have said that they will not sit and fold their arms, while some “white collar gangsters” continue to unlawfully collect and share revenues from their works.
    In very bitter terms the artistes complained for instance, that they were not satisfied with the way the minister of arts and culture, Ama Tutu Muna, proceeded arbitrarily, to share out money to artistes under the guise of what she termed “repartititon speciale”.

    Musicians say it is not the prerogative of the ministry of arts and culture to collect and manage author’s rights money for artistes and besides, the criteria that was used in the sharing of the “repartition special” was not clear to them,  until today.
    Artistes have maintained that they want to take back the control of the management of their activity especially because they have noticed that agencies created by the minister of culture notably the Permanent Commission for Mediation and Control CPMC and the Special Commission for Distribution have easily transformed into mafia organizations, where the members only work for their own benefit and advantages rather than serve the interest of artistes on whose behalf and for whose benefit they are supposed to work.
    In a petition addressed to the Prime Minister, Head of Government and with copies sent to the Head of State and the Minister of Arts and Culture, the artistes have denounced the corruption and embezzlement that is inherent in the management of the author’s rights in the country.
    They called on the Prime Minister to take urgent “administrative measures” to arrest corruption and embezzlement in the author’s rights sector.
    Meanwhile, the artistes also notified the PM of their intention to sue the the Minister of Arts and Culture, saying that she created the two agencies through which their rights money is being siphoned by “mafiosos” and “gangsters”.
    The artistes told the Pm that if they brought the matter to him it is because they have exhausted all other options without success. They prayed the PM clean-up the mess in the author’s rights sector, saying that they are also contemplating court action against the state if something is not done.
    However, the artistes pledged to remain law-abiding citizens, as they pursue the fight for their rights. 
    Meanwhile, at a press conference in Yaounde on Saturday, 18 October 2014, the artistes said the fight they have embarked upon will culminate in the creation of a new association to manage author’s rights in the country.
    The new umbrella association would be run by Raymond Tchengang as president and Adeline Mbenkum as 1st vice president. Folly Dirane is the Spokesperson.