Poetry Association of Malawi (Pam) President Robert Chiwamba and current board member of Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) Ezaius Mkandawire Wednesday triumphed during elections for board members held at Comesa Hall in Blantyre.
The two, who outclassed three other contestants including current board chairperson Maureen Masamba and another board member Ron Muphuwa, have joined four musicians – Wendy Harawa, Edgar Kachere, Anthony Dumba and Deborah Ntopa, who were elected on Tuesday during another election at the same venue.
Their election means the six have gotten a nod to be Cosoma board members but this is pending approval of the government.
There was, however, a heated debate which delayed the elections after some associations that petitioned Cosoma ahead of the elections, expressing concern over the four slots given to Musicians Union of Malawi against two for the associations.
The members of associations such as National Theatre Association of Malawi (Ntam) bemoaned the current set-up which they indicated favours musicians more than other associations.
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It had to take the associations’ presidents to brainstorm to break the standoff.
“We met as association leaders and we have come to a conclusion that we should go ahead with the elections but we want some things implemented going forward,” Gift Sukez Sukali, Film Association of Malawi (Fama)President, said.
The elections were part of the agenda for the copyright body’s two-day annual general meeting (AGM) which started on Tuesday and ended yesterday.
During the AGM, the associations, who are the copyright body’s rightsholders, deliberated on several issues.
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“We are happy with the way things have transpired during the AGM today as well as Wednesday. The members were free to make their contributions. It was tense with elections but at the end everything went on peacefully,” Cosoma Executive Director Dora Makwinja said.
Earlier on, Makwinja called upon associations to step up their efforts and create ways of generating funds to run their programmes.
