Kick out Diana - Musicians scream

A group of musicians calling itself Concerned Members of COSGA has called on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, to dismiss the President of the Musicians Union Ghana (MUSIGA), Mrs. Diana Hopeson, from the interim Board of the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA).

In a petition to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the group accused Diana Hopeson of misappropriating huge sums of money she collected from the Registrar-General’s Department for distribution to composers.

According to the group, Diana Hopeson, after receiving the money, deducted an amount of GH¢14,705.39, supposedly for the administrative expenses of MUSIGA.

But in an interview Diana Hopeson denied ever misappropriating money belonging to composers saying, “It is not true that I have misappropriated funds. I did the distribution on behalf of COSGA”.

Diana Hopeson told BEATWAVES that although she has not received a copy of the petition, the allegations made against her by the Concerned Members of COSGA are not true.

“I don’t have time for all these things. We have a lot of things to do for the industry”, she stressed.

The group was of the view that Diana’s presence on the board has the potential of undermining its credibility and the authority of the Attorney-General in resolving the protracted COSGA disaster.

Upon vociferous protests from composers that MUSIGA had no right to either collect or distribute these monies, the Deputy Registrar-General ordered Diana to return the entire composers’ funds, totaling GH¢85,753.41, to the office of the Registrar-General for onward distribution.

Shockingly, the amount returned was short by GH¢9,273.41, in addition to the initial GH¢14,705.39 she took for MUSIGA.

It said persistent calls on Diana Hopeson by the Deputy Registrar-General to return the misappropriated amount of GH¢ 9,273.41 have failed, even resulting in heated exchanges bordering on offensive conduct on the part of Diana Hopeson towards the Deputy Registrar-General, which was witnessed by a number of songwriters.

The petition further called for the preclusion from the new Board members of the former Board, headed by Alhaji Sidiku Buari, who have been ordered by the Attorney-General to finally account for their stewardship of COSGA from 2001 to 2008 to prevent conflict of interest situations from undermining the work of the current Board.