The end of the crisis within the Malagasy Copyright Office (OMDA) is finally announced. A new director has just been appointed by the Council of Ministers, a little over a year after the dismissal of Haja Ranjarivo, which occurred in February 2022, after more than twenty years at the head of this structure. Joelinirina Nomenasoa Rarivojaona thus takes over the reigns of this society of Malagasy authors.
Head of the OMDA’s collection and control department before her appointment as head of this office, Joelinirina Nomenasoa Rarivojaona, knows the workings of this body very well and is considered the appropriate solution to the standoff that has been opposing for chandeliers the Ministry of Culture and the artists’ union on the subject. A standoff that led artists to propose texts fixing the emancipation of artists from the ministry in charge of culture with an attempt to set up a new structure parallel to the OMDA.
Joelinirina Nomenasoa Rarivojaona holds a master’s degree in intellectual property law from the University of Yaoundé II, Cameroon. He has a certificate in intellectual property management and has completed many other training courses in this area. He was chosen from three applications submitted by the artists and the Ministry of Communication and Culture for this position.
Artist deputy Paul Bert Rahasimanana alias Rossy, president of the artists’ union and leader of the artists’ movement against the Ministry of Communication and Culture, who had previously been very upset over the situation at Omda, approved this appointment. In his post on social networks, he says he accepts the decision of the authorities and wishes good luck to the new director.
For its part, the team of the Ministry of Communication and Culture is delighted with this appointment since it promises for the department, like the end of the crisis which has lasted for several months. A crisis marked by a virulent opposition between the union of artists and the ministry, resulting in the non-payment of the rights of the authors, the members of the office. Thus, the first major challenge for this new director remains the payment of these cumulative royalties.