Rapper, Sarkodie has thrown his weight behind Kirani Ayat in the latter’s bid to get the Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourism Authority to compensate him for using his content without consent.
In a tweet, Sarkodie noted that creatives work tirelessly to sell the country to investors and tourists with no help whatsoever from the government.
The ‘Pizza and Bigger’ hitmaker stated that he would support Kirani Ayat to get his due especially since the musician reached out to the Tourism Ministry and did not get any help.
“We (creatives) do a lot to put our country out there, attracting a lot of tourists and investors that translates to money to help nation building yet that’s one sector with no support… I feel my brother and support him especially if he actually reached out and didn’t get help,” he wrote.
We ( creatives ) do a lot to put our country out there , attracting a lot of tourists x investors that translates to money to help nation building yet that’s one sector with no support… I feel my brother and support him especially if he actually reached out and didn’t get help https://t.co/kr7zEYaP2f
— Sarkodie (@sarkodie) September 28, 2022
This comes after musician Kirani Ayat called out the Tourism Ministry and the Authority for copyright infringement.
Beneath the deep blue sky, the Black Star is calling. Follow the stars and let them take you on a journey of our people. I invite everyone to the country at the centre of the world – #Ghana
. #VisitGhana2022 pic.twitter.com/2m5KC2QTkt
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) September 27, 2022
A video shared on President Akufo-Addo’s social media handles promoting tourism used footage from his ‘Guda’ music video.
Kirani Ayat who was not pleased to see his work used without his consent noted that he spent money in making the video without aid from anyone and yet he was not compensated after his content was used.
“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 wrote.
But reacting to the musician, the Ghana Tourism Authority, dismissed claims that some footage used for the new tourism promotional video which features President Akufo-Addo was pirated.
In a press statement, the Authority stated that they procured the footage Kirani Ayat is claiming ownership of legitimately from a creative agency in 2019 as part of a project.
The GTA stated that the agency delivered the content to the Authority, and the Authority used the content in accordance with the terms of the MOU.
They however added that despite their stance, they have reached out to the agency to deal with the issue after Kirani Ayat aired his concerns.
“This is without prejudice to any legal options available to the Authority against the Artiste and/or Agency or vice versa. The Authority has been very supportive of the Arts and has created platforms for engagement and performances for our Artistes, and we will continue to do so in our quest to make Ghana the preferred tourism destination,” they added.
However, Kirani Ayat replied the Ghana Tourism Authority, stating that he has not given any agency the right to his intellectual property or given approval for any agency to use his content.
“As an independent artist and SOLE owner of the video used in the “visit Ghana” ad campaign I have NO agreement with any government or private entity to use my intellectual property,” he noted.
Kirani Ayat added that “the agency in question needs to be named, and signed documents made publically available to demonstrate clearly when, where and under whose authority the supposed agreement was signed.”
