CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman, has shared an update on the resolution of the copyright infringement dispute between the government and musician Kirani Ayat.
The controversy arose in 2022 when Ayat accused the government of using excerpts from his Guda music video in a tourism promotional clip without his permission.
The video, which was shared on X by President Nana Akufo-Addo on September 27, 2022, to mark World Tourism Day, featured visuals from Ayat’s acclaimed single.
When he finally met with the GTA and got compensated, the authority also promised that “moving forward, Ayat and GTA will collaborate on a number of projects aimed at showcasing Ghana, our beautiful landscapes, and exciting talents to the world.”
In an interview with Andy Dosty on Hitz FM, however, the CEO of the GTA, Akwasi Agyeman disclosed that even though the government was willing to work with the musician, he was not available for their intended project when they reached out to him.
“We reached an agreement and a settlement. And then in that agreement we said going forward we will work together. So this was somewhere in the middle of the year. So when we were doing our December programme, we reached out to him and his team, because he is from Navrongo.
We are even keen and eager to have programmes in other parts of the country apart from Accra, Cape Coast, and Takoradi, which is dominating the December in the GH calendar. And he said they were not ready.
Since then we have not actually heard from him. So we haven’t been able to go the whole nine yards with him,” he said on Daybreak Hitz.
Akwasi Agyeman further noted that the authority is still open to working with Kirani Ayat when he is ready.
“But we are still keen on working with him,” he said.
In 2022, when Kirani Ayat raised concerns about copyright infringement, he revealed that he had previously contacted the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture to endorse his Guda music video as a tourism promotional tool for northern Ghana but received no response.
Following the resolution of the dispute, Ayat remained silent on the compensation amount. However, he confirmed the Ghana Tourism Authority’s statement that they had reached an agreement to collaborate on future tourism projects.