President Uhuru promises, Ksh 200m payout to musicians per month

Piece by: Grace Kerongo
Exclusives

Kenyan artistes are happy to hear that there is a fund under the Ministry of Sports, Culture, & Heritage that will help cushion them during this pandemic.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in a public address today announced news of a fund.

In his statement, he said,

"As a Government, we will continue to take the necessary measures to cushion Kenyans against the impact of the current pandemic.

"In that regard, I am pleased to note that the interventions we had committed to undertake in my inaugural address to the nation in the beginning of the year 2020 are paying dividends.

"As a beginning of many firsts, our agenda to empower our youth and foster sustainable livelihoods is gaining momentum.

"Today, our local Artists have begun drawing higher royalties."

He continued,

"I am pleased to announce that the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, in collaboration with Kenya Copyright Board, Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) have established a framework to ensure full transparency for artist’s earnings."

Adding,

"My Administration has projected that a total of Ksh. 200m every month will be paid to musicians through the system and other platforms.

"This translates to over Ksh. 2 billion going into the pockets of Kenyan artists. These payments will begin this week in line with the pledge I made in January."

Uhuru noted in his speech,

"I further direct the Ministry of Sports, Culture, & Heritage to avail an additional support of Ksh. 100 M from the Sports Fund to our artists, actors and musicians, during the period of the covid-19 pandemic."

The questions on the implementation of this will remain to be seen.

The fund is supposed to serve over 30,000 creatives. It will be interesting to see what system will be used to distribute the Ksh 100m.

The CMOs have also been put on the hot seat as they will have to collect over 200m monthly for distribution.

For the government, entertainers will be the new source of income as a projected Ksh 2b is expected to generated for members in that industry.

As for the transparency measures, that is yet to be seen on what modalities are being put in place to account for collection of royalties by CMOs and if the distribution will indeed be 70/30.