MCSK, PRISK, KAMP demand to be allowed to distribute Uhuru Kenyatta’s KSh 100M allocated to artists

Music societies in Kenya, PRISK, MCSK, and KAMP, have asked to be included in the distribution of the KSh 100 million funds allocated to cushion artistes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Collective Management Organization (CMOs) differed the directive rolled out by the Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Heritage on how the funds should be distributed.

The program entails artists, from different sectors, will have to produce content that can educate Kenyans and then be eligible for payment. The CS noted giving cash handouts would have been ineffective adding that the ministry agencies would supervise and coordinate the distribution of the funds.

“We KAMP, PRISK, and MCSK, are Kenya’s only Collective Management Organizations. Our combined membership is about 20,000, composed of composers, authors, publishers, performers (musicians & actors), and producers of sound recordings and dramatic works and accordingly, considering our mandate and membership, the CMOs are integral and have a fundamental role in facilitating the President’s program herein, in liaison with the ministry. As CMOs, we feel to be the best-placed institutions through which this well-intentioned stimulus project aimed at assisting Kenyan artistes, should be implemented. Consequently, we humbly request the CS to consider CMOs to be part of the institutions to implement the presidents’ good intended gesture,” the statement read.