The National President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Mr. Bessa Simons, has urged members of the association to be agents of peace before, during, and after the upcoming December 7th general elections.
Mr. Simons, during the gathering of Musicians in the Bono East Region at the Yaw Kramo Community Center in Techiman Bamiri, said musicians have a vital role to play in preserving the peace and harmony being enjoyed in the country.
According to him, music is used in all events in the country and as such, members of MUAIGA should use their God given talents to preach peace by composing songs with lyrics that talks about the importance of peace and peaceful coexistence.
“We musicians are very important in all sectors of the economy, we write songs, record them, and sing at all occasions. You can attest to it take all the political parties are using songs to campaign and that should tell you how important our work is.
“I will however plead with our members not to compose songs for composing sake, they should come out with lyrics that will educate the public about the need for peace and peaceful coexistence.” He said.
Mr. Bessa Simons, urged politicians to honor their part of deals that they have with musicians that compose songs for them during their campaigns. He said composing of songs is the profession of musicians and as such, politicians must pay musicians after they compose songs for them.
The National President of MUSIGA, pleaded with the public to desists from the act of insulting musicians that composes songs for political parties since composing songs for a political party doesn’t mean that musician belongs to the said political party.
“I will entreat the politicians to pay our members as they agreed on when they compose a song for them. Music is a business and that is what we do, it doesn’t mean if a musician compose a song for a political party, it doesn’t mean he belongs to that party.
“The practice of insulting musicians for composing songs for political parties should be stopped. We have to understand that they are just doing their work and it doesn’t necessarily means they support that political party.” He said.
The call for peace is particularly timely, as the upcoming elections are a critical moment for the nation. Simons believes that by setting a positive example through the Musicians Union, they can contribute to a broader cultural shift towards non-violence and mutual respect. ”
The Public Relations Officer of the Bono East MUSIGA, Mr. Asiamah, popularly known as Kakabuga, explained that, the gathering of the Bono East MUSIGA, is to familiarized themselves with their national executives and learn about the rules and regulations of the association.
He further disclosed that, since they now have their new region (Bono East) they will in next year launch the Bono East Chapter of MUSIGA and urged all and sundry to anticipate the launching of the Bono East Chapter.
“This is all about the gathering of musicians in Bono East region, we were under Sunyani MUSICA when the three regions where combined as a Brong Ahafo region but now that we have Bono East region, we deemed it appropriate to be independent from Sunyani.
“We initially wanted to outdoor our association today but after consulting our national President, he told us to first gather all the musicians in the region for him to meet us and take us through what will be expected from us when we finally outdoor our association.
“So we are you today to meet our members, share ideas on how best to run our association after which we will fixed a date for our inauguration.
“Next year God willing, we will inaugurate our association in a grand style which we will invite a lot of dignitaries to grace the occasion.” He said.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com