Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) CEO Ezekiel Mutua has responded to viral claims of leaked accounts for the entity for 2023.
In a statement, Mutua claims the document, shared by Kenyan rapper and former radio presenter Hubert Mbuku Nakitare alias Nonini, has been doctored from the financial statements of the Music Publishers Association of Kenya (MPAKE).
“There’s this fugitive @Noninimgenge2ru who embezzled musicians’ money when he was a director of MUPAKE & PRISK. We reported him and his gang to the police last week and we are pursuing their prosecution. Now I hear he’s circulating a FAKE document on social media purporting it’s official accounts of MCSK but the document is actually lifted from the MUPAKE accounts of 2017-2019 and doctored to serve the fertile imagination,” Mutua wrote.
Mutua has dared Nonini to take the document to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and record a statement if it is genuine.
The MCSK boss also accused persons circulating the document of being the same people who peddled lies that musicians would get Ksh1,250 in royalties from MCSK.
“A few weeks ago the same people circulating fake documents on social media were here claiming that MCSK was going to pay artists Ksh1250. We proved them wrong and used a scientific distribution method that saw the highest earner get Ksh757,000. Now they are back with fake documents,” he added.
Nonini faults Mutua
In a statement on Monday, February 6, 2024, Nonini accused MCSK of unfair distribution of royalties to artistes, with administrators getting the lion’s share of the collections.
“You see the exact problem that is affecting Kenyan Music Industry. These are the figures MCSK budgeted artists monies for the year that just ended 2023. This is a problem in all CMOs administration and directors benefit more than anyone,” Nonini stated.
This comes days after MCSK distributed royalties to artistes for 2023, with Ksh20 million being distributed amongst 16,000 artistes.
