Musician Kirani Ayat Calls Out Akufo-Addo For Using His Song Without Permission

Ghanaian musician, Kirani Ayat has accused the presidency of using portions of his music video in an advertising campaign without his knowledge.

President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, September 27 shared a video to promote the nation’s tourism sector on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2022.

In the video, which captures beautiful scenes of the country with a VoiceOver by the President, some portions of Kirani Ayat’s music video for his hit song “Guda” can be seen in the video.

Beneath the deep blue sky, the Black Star is calling. Follow the stars and let them take you on a journey of our people. I invite everyone to the country at the centre of the world – #Ghana . #VisitGhana2022,” the caption of the video reads.

The president of Ghana has used my video “GUDA” in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got NO reply, yet today it’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission. 

The video which has been shared on Twitter has caught Kirani Ayat’s attention and he has since called out the Presidency for using his music without his permission.

According to Kirani Ayat, the President used a portion of his “Guda” video in the ad, even though in the year 2018/2019, he got no reply after reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism to give him permission to use the said video to promote tourism in the north.

“The president of Ghana has used my video “GUDA” in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got NO reply, yet today it’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,” he wrote on Twitter.

The singer who deserves royalty on his music and intellectual properties, admonished the creator of the video, stating that he/she should have reached out and did due diligence before using his creative property.

“Whoever worked on this video should’ve reached out to the rightful content owners before proceeding. I spent my all in making GUDA possible, I’m sure you were paid for this job, where is my cut ?” he added.