Yesterday marked the end of Sophie Gombya’s reign as the president of the Uganda Musician’s Association to embark on her political ambitions and also the welcoming of the new president and vice president of the association.
The event took place at Mestil hotel and the handover ceremony was attended by some artistes on the association as well as the media.
Sophie Gombya thanked her team for a job well done and called on the music fraternity to be united.
“I thank my team for the unity, adhering to the rules and for a job well done. We have not been ashamed and I believe we haven’t ashamed the music fraternity at all during this tenure. We need to be united even more,” she said.
The mother of five also added that during her reign, they have been able to unite artistes and journalists, getting an office and bridging the gap between different artistes in all regions. Besides that, she’s proud that they have been able to get new members joining the association from 25 when they started out to over 250.
After being handed the responsibility of the presidency, Wycliffe Tugume alias Ykee Benda said he’s going to continue from where Gombya stopped and knows the task ahead. He also clarified that among the projects he’s going to start with is streamlining Uganda Performing Right Society (UPRS), a Collective Management Organization (CMO). They are a member based organisation for creatives and right owners mandated to collect loyalties on their behalf.
It was formed in 1985 by mainly musicians to advance the cause of copyright administration in Uganda.
“We are not members of UPRS. We have opened a new and fresh chapter now. We are going to streamline UPRS to the best interest of the music industry. We want to register our names and the kind of work we do and follow it up in the right way. Previously we had complications whereby someone would register him/herself thrice but that is about to end,” said Ykee Benda.
He added that they are going to start a website and register all interested artistes. Ykee Benda advised people in the creatives to provide a valid national Id, an email address, phone number, date of birth, and the label they are in among other things. And for payment processes, they will require a Visa card or Mobile money account.
When all this is done, they will then call for a general meeting and come up with a board that will lead UPRS.
As Ykee Benda was getting his new position, Cindy was there to replace him as the new vice-chairperson of the association in the presence of Big Eye, King Michael, Phina Masanyalaze, Justin Bas, and Levixone among others.
