Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) is operating without a board as the names which were sent to the government by the institution are yet to be approved.
Cosoma Senior Licensing Officer, Rosario Kamanga, confirmed the situation yesterday.
He however, indicated that the statutory corporation was looking into the issue.
“There was an anomaly between those that made it to the board and those that were nominated by the general assembly to be considered for appointment,” Kamanga said.
He could not be drawn to disclose the names that were appointed but were not part of the names nominated by the general assembly.
On whether they were affected by the absence of the board, Kamanga, said: “It has an impact in that for certain decisions, the society has to refer to the ministry or statutory corporation or engage ex-official members that sit on the board.”
Most of the board members of the copyright body are elected during the Annual General Assembly.
Some of the names of the members who were elected to be part of the board during the previous Annual General Meeting (AGM) include former Musicians Union of Malawi president Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango, Rudo Mkukupha Chakwera, Joseph Tembo and Kendall Kamwendo.
The previous board was appointed by President Peter Mutharika and it was headed by National Theatre Association of Malawi president, Eric Mabedi.
The other members were Reverend Charles Mawaya, Tembo, Charles Sinetre, a former Cosoma board chairperson who lost out during the elections, Kamwendo, Reverend Catherine Jailosi, Secretary for Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, Comptroller of Statutory Corporations, the Solicitor General and Secretary for Education, Science and Technology as ex-officio members.
Mabedi said yesterday he could not comment much on the issue.
“There is a Cosoma AGM from November 14 to November 19 2019 at Blantyre Cultural Centre and so that is where we will hear more on the progress of the board,” he said.
This is not the first time for Cosoma to run without a board. It also experienced the same scenario before the previous board and it had to take the creative industry to call upon the government to appoint the board.
Efforts to talk to the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture proved futile yesterday as its spokesperson could not be reached.
