A letter to Uhuru Kenyatta the President of the Republic of Kenya as received by the Office of the President on 4th December 2015 Cont. 2

4. Finally, Collecting Management Organizations (CMOs) like Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK), Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) and Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) need to be strengthened through relevant government legislations and policies. These organizations have not collected even an eighth of the amounts they are supposed to collect from the public on behalf of musicians. If they were empowered through the National and County governments to collect even at least 80%of the Public Places Performance license (PPP), it would be a complete turnaround for musicians across the country. There is also a major challenge in that some radio stations and televisions have refused to pay for the music they use. Mr. President, that is theft of the highest order and we as well request for your protection in this. They are making so much money with the music while the content provider, who is the musician, dies in poverty. There is also the issue of monies illegally collected by Premium Rates Service Providers (PRSPs) which does not reach the pockets of the musician. In fact as I write to you, Musicians have not received the billions of shillings that Safaricom is supposed to pay to them as skiza royalties because of a court case that is taking so long to decide. The Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information Communication and Technology has to ensure that PRSPs work under CMOs as music publishers to bring sanity to the collecting industry because only CMOs should collect royalties on behalf the musician. There is also the need that different CMOs clean up their registers off ghost musicians so that the legitimate ones can benefit from these monies. Your able government has to protect musicians against mismanagement of the billions collected by these CMOs. Again as I write to you, accounts of some CMOs have been frozen so musicians are suffering because they have not been paid royalties for some time.

Oh, my apologies Mr. President, I should have started with introducing myself but I assumed that you know me, just like I assume any other Kenyan should know their own musicians and be proud of them. Well, My Stage Name which is my Business Name in music is Influx Swagga. I have been a rap artiste since 1996, which makes that twenty years next month and still, I can’t put food on my table by being a full time musician so, I have to get another side job. Over the times and ages, I have seen the music industry Stanger up and down, even after over fifty years of independence, it has never stood on its feet. It worries me again when I see Swaglyn take up a pen to copy as I write my musical lines because it’s an indication that she will one day became a musician. That’s a reason enough for me not to leave the music industry how I found it, but make it better which I can only achieve if you assist Mr. President. Bureaucracies are the biggest enemy of every change, but willingness wins all autocracies. The committee pushing for music policies, frameworks and relevant legislations which I chair, hereby requests your government take the bull by its horns and succeed in the war where others failed. Lastly, we request you Mr. President, to allow musicians to come and have a cup of tea with you at state house. That way, we shall submit more suggestions and feel closer to your heart and mind and the whole community of close to thirty five thousand musicians in Kenya shall as well keep you close to their hearts. Thank You, Mr. President.

Yours Passionate,



Augustine Mbii Kavindu, Msc

Chairman,

Musicians Committee Pushing for music policies, frameworks and relevant legislations

Cc

State House, Nairobi

Office of the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya

Speaker – National Assembly

Speaker – Senate

Chief Justice – Judiciary

Cabinet secretary - Ministry of Sports, Culture and The Arts

Cabinet Secretary - Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology

Cabinet Secretary – Ministry ofIndustrialization and Enterprise Development

Cabinet Secretary – Ministry of Education, Science and Technology

Cabinet Secretary – Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs

Council of Governors

Inspector General of Police

WAPI – British Council

Kenya Copyright Board

Permanent Presidential Music Commission