Audio Attachment:Listen to Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa |
A Deputy Minister of Information has questioned the competence and integrity of the Copyright Office of Ghana, saying it will take a lot of convincing for him to believe there is no conspiracy at play to ruin the chances of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the upcoming polls.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was commenting on the threat by former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings that the NDC risks having a ban being placed on it for the use of the �Umbrella logo�, since it belongs to her and confirmation by a former administrator at the Ghana Copyright Office that Mrs Rawlings� claims are valid.
In a statement issued through her lawyers, Nana Konadu warned that if the party does not go back to its values and principles and accord her family all the respect they deserve, she will not hesitate to place a ban on the party from using the NDC symbol which currently has been registered in her name.
And to buttress her words, Bernard K. Bosomprah confirmed claims by the former first lady saying he personally signed the certificate of registration of the NDC logo in the name of Nana Konadu.
According to him, Mrs Rawlings said she independently designed the logo, adding, �one cannot doubt the integrity of her claim,� and called on anyone who disagrees with her claim to go to court to challenge her.
But contributing to discussions on Radio Gold�s Ahaji and Alhaji programme, the Deputy Information Minister, who is also the NDC Parliamentary candidate for North Tongu constituency indicted the Copyright Office for failing to verify from the party before handing over the ownership of the NDC symbol to an individual.
According to him, the NDC is a known political party with National executives thus the administrator who endorsed the documents that gave the rights of the logo to Nana Konadu, should have found out from the party whether they are aware that the former First Lady was registering the logo of the party in her name and whether it was the party that asked her to do so.
�You are called upon to register the emblem of a political party which has operated since 1992 with known national executives and you could not write to the General Secretary of the party or chairman of the party to find out that there is a demand or a claim for the emblem of the party so you want to find out if there is any objection; but there was no such letter, no communication, no attempt at all to find out from the NDC if this is an exercise they are in support of. You don�t find it necessary to do that� Everybody in our country will not be feeling safe by this act especially if you run such an organization��he said.
According to him, the copyright office has by this act, shown that anybody at all can saunter into their offices and lay claim to any company or organization�s logo at anytime because they (Copyright Office) will not verify the authenticity of the claims by that individual.
�Anybody can walk to the copyright office now and register the KOSMOS symbol and the rest and because you have come first to tell that you did it, they just go ahead to register it in your name. Public officers have the duty to be responsible and to be fair, to carry out their discretion and authority in manners that does not create chaos. The flood gate now has been opened for a jungle system. Why did we then have the Copyright Office? How can you justify such a conduct? It will take a lot of convincing that people were not engaged in a conspiracy to plunge the NDC into chaos, into confusion with 6 months to go for an election�,�Okudzeto added.
Source: Rebecca Addo-Tetteh/Peacefmonline
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