Obour Is Wrong Choice For MUSIGA – Okraku Mante

Controversial music producer Mark Okraku Mante has predicted that newly-elected Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) President, Obour, would become a pup

pet of his predecessors, Diana Hopson and Alhaji Sikidu Buari.

The two past presidents, Okraku opined, were key figures in the Obour for President Campaign camp.

Okraku said the personalities of the two individuals and the influence they would want to wield on Obour, born Bice Osei Kufuor, would be so huge that it would be difficult for the new president to ‘be his own man’.

He strongly believed that their affiliations with Obour would have a telling negative effect on his administration.

He rationalized that Obour’s winning of the MUSIGA election which came off in Tamale last Thursday August 18,  was a clear case of a developing trend where outgoing presidents put a favourite person to cover up their bad deeds which could be exposed.

Speaking on Peace Fm’s Entertainment Review programme last Saturday, Mark described Obour as a wrong choice for MUSIGA Presidency.

“From my opinion, I think this is not the time for Obour to be MUSIGA President. I think he should have waited and hanged around with the elderly for some time. I told him that before and I am saying it again. I also think there is a problem with the camp he is coming from.”

Mark said he was not a member of MUSIGA but was concerned about issues of the industry because he also produced and managed some musicians.

He mentioned Rex Omar as one of the people who supported Obour’s candidature and asked if Obour would have enough guts to call Omar to order if he did something wrong in the union.

According to myjoyonline.com, Okraku also said on Adom FM that another reason Obour was not the best person for the MUSIGA job was because his youthfulness could go against him when it came to fight or lobbying for musicians’ rights. He said there were places an older person or artiste could be given access to that a young person would not be allowed.

“I’ve had the opportunity to follow some of the older musicians to places like the Attorney-General’s Department and what I observed was that the way the older folks were related to was quite different from the way I was related to because I was younger.

“I believe he should have let the older musicians do the lobbying and put the required structures in place, after which he could take over,” he was quoted.

For Mark, the time was not right for Obour, adding that the camp that he joined to win the election would not do his administration any good.

He said he thought Gyedu Blay Ambolley was the right person to lead MUSIGA, but noted they managed to kick him out because of his calls for probe of the industry four years ago.

Sadly, Ambolley’s own friends in the industry also contributed to his down fall by fabricating and peddling untrue stories about him, which he (Mark) wouldn’t want to go into, he added.

Obour, speaking on Peace Fm’s Entertainment Review Show, justified his affiliations with Diana Hopson and the rest when he said Amandzeba Nat Brew also campaigned for Ambolley and nobody had qualms with it.

For him, said, it was a contest and he won, hence he was looking forward to ensuring a good administration.