Author: ELKANA KUHENGA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Hassan Abbasi has declared to rebrand Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) as he met with the board and staff of COSOTA in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The meeting was set by the PS to discuss challenges that COSOTA face in fulfilling their duties and develop strategies that would favor all stakeholders, especially artists, musicians, film makers, authors and carvers.
This becomes the his first meeting after the handover occasion of COSOTA to his ministry from the Ministry of Industry and Trade as it was directed by President John Magufuli last Sunday at the state house in Chamwino, Dodoma when addressing government leaders, artistes and the delegates of CCM Congress.
“We are rebranding COSOTA to be completely new that is going to increase efficiency in the way it serves well its stakeholders. I know there are some artists and creative content creators for one reason or another have not registered for COSOTA, I urged them to do register,” he said.
“So that their work can be legally protected and they can be paid their dues when they are used by other people commercially.”
In addition, he has instructed COSOTA to speed-up and put in place a well-organised system to pay artists their money on a regular basis rather than keeping them wait for their payments too long.
As if they do so, it will strengthen their stakeholders trust but if not it will discourage them considering that the institution’s main role is to ensure there is a favorable environment for artists.
Meanwhile, the artists and musicians, film makers, authors and carvers have been urged to register their works for legal protection.
So as to ensure that the laws and regulation that guide and protect their rights are embraced and those who use them illegally are punished.
According to the PS, the government has been able to repay the family of the late comedian Alhaji Amri Athumani who was popularly known as ‘Mzee Majuto’ 65 mil/- and the family of the late Steven Kanumba 20 mil/-after reviewing the contracts he signed when he was alive.
