Actors Split Over 'Dumsor Demo' -Bribery Allegations Set In

The Film Producers Association of Ghana (FiPAG) will boycott the services of some of the popular Kumasi-based movie stars who did not participate in a demonstration organised by the Association in Kumasi last Thursday to protest the unending electricity crisis in Ghana, NEWS-ONE has gathered.

Though the decision is yet to be officially announced, NEWS-ONE has picked signals a good number of leading FiPAG members have agreed on the decision and it will be tabled before members at an emergency meeting to be held today, Monday, June 1.

Interestingly, today's FiPAG meeting will be chaired by the Association's president, Asare Hackman, who himself was not at the demonstration. He was reported to have remained in Accra having a jolly good time at a wedding while his members were in Kumasi holding placards and screaming their lungs out.

Several of the Association's members were left stranded in Accra and could not go to Kumasi for the demonstration because the president was said to have refused to release funds for their mobilisation.

This comes at a time allegations and suspicions of bribery, betrayal of trust and partisan political interest among FiPAG members are tearing the Association apart in what seems to be ripples of last Thursday's demonstration.

FiPAG's Public Relations Officer, Michael Kwaku Ola, told Nhyira FM there was an attempt by government to make the demonstration flop and that some popular actors were bribed and given mouth-watering promises to boycott the demonstration.

Though Kwaku Ola did not provide any evidence to back his claim, he alleged further that some of the actors and filmmakers received bribes days before the demonstration while some went for theirs on Thursday, the very day scheduled for the demonstration.

NEWS-ONE gathered that the leadership of FiPAG, at today's meeting, would look into the allegation and deal with the matter before it further splits the Association.

The demonstration cum sit-down strike was spearheaded by the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FiPAG) and was to have been attended by members of the Ghana Actors Guild (GAG), members of the Creative Arts For Change, as well as some of Ghana's popular actors, movie and stage directors, scriptwriters, editors, producers, makeup artists, soundtrack singers & producers, acting guilds' members, retailers, marketers and distributors among others.

Attendance was, however, below expectation on the day. Some of the film industry's popular names including Akrobeto, Agya Koo, Mercy Asiedu, Kwadwo Nkansah, and Nana Ama McBrown were all missing from the demonstration.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo