Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture to deal with Cosoma board issue

Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture Rachel Mazombwe-Zulu has said that they will look into the issue of the absence of a board at Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) as a matter of urgency.

She said she will be meeting the director of culture to look into the issue and observed that they delayed to meet because of the festive season holidays.

Recently, Musicians Association of Malawi (Mam) indicated that the fact that Cosoma is operating without a board and that the secretariat is implementing some decisions without any guidance contrary to what is a normal procedure of any parastatal organisation.

Mam president Chimwemwe Mhango has on several occasions expressed concern with the absence of Cosoma board and he first presented the issue to former minister Daniel Liwimbi but nothing came up and now the issue has been presented to Mazombwe.

During an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Balaka musicians came up with resolutions during the deliberations giving a time-frame of two months for the government to appoint a board for Cosoma and also work on the Cultural Policy and failure to do that, they said they will call for action.

Mhango said on Wednesday that they will take the issues seriously and that they want a change in the New Year.

“We will be taking back the resolutions we made during the AGM and firstly we will seek an audience with the director of culture and then the minister. But we are serious and if these issues are not addressed then action will indeed follow,” he said.

Mazombwe said musicians should rest be assured that things will change and that they should have patience.

Mam has since said that they want to have an audience with President Joyce Banda to congratulate her on her appointment but also present their challenges.