Lekopanye Mooketsi
27 October 2008
The embattled Botswana Musicians' Union (BOMU) could be in financial dire straits. Former treasurer, Phetogo Bakwena, paints a gloomy picture of the association's finances.
If a new executive committee is elected, one of its priorities will be raising funds for the organisation.
In his financial report to the BOMU annual general meeting, Bakwena said the association's financial position is unhealthy.
He stated that some of the reasons for the financial woes are due to the fact that the organisation is dependent on one source of funding - a grant from the Department of Culture and Youth. To him, it is too risky that the association should only have one source of income.
Bakwena said internally generated funds, in the form of annual membership fees, are insufficient to sustain BOMU operations. It is for this reason that they are asking members to consider increasing the subscription fees.
He said the timing of payment of the annual membership fees by members has also tended to be later in the year, especially just before the annual awards.
"The money could be put to better use if the bulk of it came at once e.g. payments for the coming year made in December with penalties for late registration for existing members," the report stated.
On other issues, Bakwena said the outgoing committee had opened a current account with Stanbic Bank. The new account is linked to the old savings account. Bakwena said the old system of making cash withdrawals from the saving account in order to pay suppliers was cumbersome and risky.
He said they were also able to reconstruct the financial report that was required by the Department of Culture and Youth in order for them to release the administration. This, according to him, was not easy due to the manner in which they assumed office.
Bakweana said his committee had also been engaged in talks with other stakeholders, especially in relation to the Mascom/BOMU awards.
But he pointed out that they would not commit the association to any contractual obligations without members' input. Given the many challenges inherent in the music industry, they had undertaken to conduct business in a more professional manner, he said.
He also stated that the committee had resolved that members of the executive should not participate in BOMU competitions such as awards in order to avoid issues of conflict of interest and possible bias. Surprisingly, instead of formulating a way to revive the association's fortunes, BOMU members are always at each other's throats. The new executive committee, which was elected this year, was overthrown at this meeting.
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