Ola Michael is a filmmaker,
Ghanaian filmmaker and entertainment personality, Ola Michael, has made a passionate appeal to the government to urgently constitute the board of the National Film Authority (NFA), saying the lack of action is allowing piracy to flourish unchecked.
Speaking on UTV’s United Showbiz, Ola identified three key institutions responsible for tackling the unauthorised broadcast of films on television: the Copyright Office, the National Communications Authority (NCA), and the NFA.
However, he lamented that the Copyright Office is under-resourced and the NFA currently lacks a functioning board, making it ineffective.
“If you want to show someone’s movie on TV, you need permission from the NFA and a release license from the filmmakers. If you flout that law, the NCA can sanction or even shut down your station.
“Right now, the NFA does not have a board. So, we can’t do anything,” he said.
Ola said he possesses a list of over 200 local TV stations that were caught airing copyrighted films illegally about five years ago.
He stressed that with a properly resourced NFA board, the issue could be resolved within just two months.
“If the board is set up and resourced, give us just 2 months and we will solve the problem,” he declared.
He urged the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, to expedite the formation of the board, noting that names have already been submitted by NFA executives: Kafui Danku-Pitcher and James Gardiner.
“We’re ready to work. We have the solution. But we need action! People are losing their investments. Some stations are even airing paid adverts during pirated movies and are profiting off someone else’s hard work,” he added.
His call adds to growing pressure on the government to protect Ghana’s creative industry from the damaging effects of piracy.
ID/AE
