The new executives were elected at a by-election held at the Centre for National Culture in Accra on Saturday. They are Sammy Fiscian, President, Van Vicker, Vice President, and Kalsoume Sinare, Welfare Officer.
Speaking to Showbiz yesterday, an obviously elated Fiscian said he was excited about his victory, “I’m really excited and I give thanks to God almighty for making it possible.”
He used the opportunity to outline his vision for the guild, “I am looking at a situation where we will re-organise the Ghana Actors Guild and rebrand it. At the moment, the guild is nothing to write home about so there is the need to bring every actor in Ghana to the guild to give it a new focus and make it vibrant and attractive,” the actor said.
Another area that is dear to his heart is welfare issues. “If you belong to an organisation where the welfare system is not good, then it is not worth it, there should be a proper welfare scheme.
“We will look up to government institutions and corporate bodies for sponsorship so that we will have a stronger financial base to be able to invest in managing and running the welfare scheme,” he said.
Sammy Fiscian added that he also intends to support the various groups which fall under the Ghana Actors Guild such as the Concert Party Groups and the Theatre Groups. “We need to get funding to support these groups to enable them put up performances.”
Finally, he is looking at the guild running collaborations with TV stations, “the foreign soaps have pushed us out of jobs and we need to work our way back, we can only do that with support from the TV stations.”
Fiscian added that his team have up to October 2018 to end their tenure for which reason he was looking at what is achievable.
On her part, Kalsoume Sinare who was elected as Welfare Officer said she is grateful to God. “I would like to thank God because without Him, I couldn’t have made it. I feel very humbled and I am also grateful to the people who voted, the people have spoken,” she said.
One thing Kalsoume intends to bring on board is transparency which she said has been missing from the guild.
“We will put in place a proper welfare system so that we can support members when they are bereaved or getting married, we intend to change the face of the guild’, the Sala actress added.
According to Kalsoume, they will seek support from partners, “we will talk to the sector Minister for assistance as well as corporate bodies. I feel sad when I see aged actors begging for money to take care of their medical bills, we should be able to take care of all that,” she said.
The general secretary of the guild, Don Ziggy Netyson expressed appreciation to members for making the elections a successful one.
“We have had some few challenges but everything was sorted out and the elections came off successfully, the attendance was massive and I am happy for the enthusiasm and recognition of the guild,” he said.
The newly elected executives were sworn into office after the elections.
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