Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) Ezekiel Mutua has strongly opposed the move to collect music royalties through the eCitizen platform as the government moves to streamline all its revenue collection through a single platform.
In a statement on his X page on February 17, Mutua claimed that such a directive issued by a Cabinet Secretary can be presumed as the highest level of ignorance and may lead to legal disputes.
"When a Cabinet Secretary says that the Government will collect royalties for artists through e-Citizen, it's the highest level of ignorance. Music is a talent like football or athletics" Mutua lamented.
The CEO added that since both footballers and athletes are not paid through the same platform, the government has no right to collect the creative's revenues through the same.
"Music is a private right and the government can only get the taxes accruing from payment of royalties, but it cannot purport to administer copyright on behalf of musicians" Mutua recalled.
In his claims, he stated that MCSK already has a technology for the distribution of the revenues that is soon to be implemented as the current staff are under training.
"We have received a distribution system from WIPO free of charge and they are already training our staff on how to use it," he clarified.
According to Mutua, Kenya is a signatory to the Bern Convention as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which dictates against interference by the state on the administration of copyright as private property.
He thus urged the government to support Collective Management Organisations (CMO) with enforcement and enact proper policies to protect Intellectual property.
"The Government should support CMOs with enforcement and enact proper policies to protect Intellectual property. World over music business is run privately through CMOs because the government is not good at doing business.
"In fact, this Government has already announced its intention to privatise most of its parastatals to make them more profitable. It would therefore be a contradiction in terms to meddle in the running of private music businesses.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria on February 11, emphasised that the government was working towards amending the Copyright Act to create a CMO entrusted with collecting royalties from artists.
Kuria also commented that the eCitizen platform will soon be tasked with the ability to collect all music copyrights and royalties.
His comments were not well received by the MCSK boss as well as Gender CS Aisha Jumwa who refuted them, adding that discussions were still in progress and that a formal announcement would be made once talks were over.
