Ghanaian singer, Kirani Ayat, is breathing fire on the neck of government after he accused it of using some visuals from his Guda video in its “Visit Ghana” campaign without his knowledge.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s Twitter handle posted a video on September 27, 2022, depicting the country’s tourism potential.
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
Ayat later retweeted the video with the following comment: 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”.
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
Although the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) claimed an agency was contracted to put together the video project as far back as 2019, Mr. Ayat is citing a breach of his intellectual property as he claims he was not informed about the project.
While reacting to the press statement issued by the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Ayat insisted that the GTA should publish details of the contract for the promotional video.
According to Ayat, he has had no engagement with any agency regarding the use of his material for the Visit Ghana project, and thus demands that the full contract containing the name of the agency and other information be made available to the public.
Read Mr. Ayat’s full statement below:
