Nairobi News

Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) has issued the Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) with an operational license for 2023.

This comes at a time KECOBO is locked in vicious fights, with two other Collective management organizations (CMO) having declined to renew their licenses.

KECOBO issued a provisional license to PRISK on Thursday, and it is only valid for four months.

Also read: Vicious battle: MCSK accuse Kecobo boss of stealing 100m. He responds

“This is to certify that the registration of Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) for performers of sound Recording and audio-visual works category class of related rights with registration number CS 0004 has been renewed. The provisional registration shall be valid for four months until April 30, 2023,” read the certificate of renewal signed by KECOBO’s Executive Director Edward Sigei.

Sigei was recently accused by the Music Society Copyright of Kenya (MCSK) Chief Executive Officer high handedness, micro-managing and abuse of office towards CMOs.

The CMO has already launched a complaint to the office of the Ombudsman, calling for Mr Sigei’s removal from office.

MCSK is also accusing him of soliciting bribes from board members, an allegation which Mr Sigei has denied asking the CMO to table evidence of its claims.

The KECOBO chief insists that the move by MCSK resulted from the board declining to issue it with a license.

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The board declined to issue the license on the grounds that MCSK contravened section 46 of the Copyright Act No. 12 of 2001 for failing to furnish it with list of beneficiaries and amounts paid in royalties for 2022, audited financial statements for a period up to June 2022 and failure to provide an authenticated list of members required as per the Copyright regulations 2020.

The regulator is also currently locked in an impasse with the Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) for failing to meet a number of requisite demands it had outlined to KAMP for the license insurance.

KAMP agreed to all the demands but declined one suspecting mischief on the part of the board.
The move forced the newly elected KAMP chair, former musician Angela Ndambuki to issue a statement to its members.

Also read: MCSK turns heat on KECOBO, wants its boss removed over 1m bribe claims

It read in part, “We submitted all the necessary documents by 26th October 2022 and since then we have accepted all the conditions KECOBo has imposed on us except one.

The current impasse is consequent to KECOBO’s unreasonable, illegitimate and illegal demands that KAMP hands over to KECOBO all of our members’ data as a precondition of getting an operating license from the Board. This demand is contrary to section 25 of the Data Protection Act.

The said section provides inter alia “Every data controller or data processor shall ensure that personal data is processed in accordance with the right to privacy of the data subject.”

KAMP has taken the matter before the cabinet secretary for Youth, Sports and Arts, Ababu Namwamba, for direction.

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