Musician Kirani Ayat and video producer David Nicol-Sey have called out the Tourism Ministry for using their footage in a new promotional video without their consent.
The video shared on President Akufo-Addo’s Twitter page sees him call on people especially in the diaspora to make Ghana their destination for Tourism.
The two-minute video featured different scenes from different parts of the country and a voice-over by the President encouraging tourism.
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
However, in the video were also shots from the VGMA and 3Music nominated video for the song ‘Guda’ released in 2018 by Kirani Ayat.
The video directed by David Nicol-Sey was shot mainly in the Northern part of Ghana showcasing the culture and the beauty.
Kirani Ayat who was not pleased to see his work used without his consent noted that he spent his all 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.
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.
https://t.co/vLnAP0bRqf
— Kirani Ayat
(@KiraniAYAT) September 27, 2022
Kirani Ayat added that “whoever worked on this video should’ve reached out to the rightful content owners before proceeding. I spent my all in making GUDA possible, I’m sure you were paid for this job, where is my cut?”
The musician added that he worked as a security guard for three months to earn money to shoot the video.
“I worked 7 days a week from 7 pm to 7 am for 3 months straight as a security guard just to save up to make this “GUDA” video possible. Various awards shows snubbed it, the Ministry ignored it, and I reached out a couple of times to no avail. I was depressed throughout that period.”
I worked 7 days a week from 7PM to 7AM for 3 months straight as a security guard just to save up to make this “GUDA” video possible. Various awards shows snubbed it, the ministry ignored it, I reached out a couple time to no avail. I was depressed throughout that period.
— Kirani Ayat
Meanwhile, the director David Nicol-Sey also on Twitter stated that creatives deserve to get paid for their content especially when they had no help from anyone when making their content.
“Creatives struggle to create content with their last dime with zero support from @NAkufoAddo and @MOTACGhana. Did your team reach out to the content owners for authorisation before using @KiraniAYAT’s GUDA and @FuseODG’s African girl in promoting your “visit ghana” campaign?”
