Welcome to what was once the Panafest - Ghana website. To satisfy your curiosity, I am the former webmaster and I have removed the website from the internet for nonpayment of fees by the principal organisers of the event.  During the past several years, I had received numerous emails from visitors to the website, criticising me for out of date information and admonishing me to update the Panafest website. The initial difficulties were mainly due to the organisers being so lazy that they wouldn't send me new information - no matter how many times I asked for it. Over a period of two years, however, I simply refused to do any more work on the website until I got paid. The outstanding debts owed by the Panafest Foundation for the work done on that website totalled over $6,300 USD. Of this amount, more than $3,500 USD had been in arrears for OVER FIVE YEARS. Yes that's right ... I was not paid anything for FIVE YEARS.  When the 2007 edition of Panafest ended in August 2007, I sent an email to the two directors of Panafest: Mr. Kojo Yankah (Chairman of the Panafest Foundation) and Mr. Kohain Halevi (the Executive Secretary of the Panafest Foundation). That email - and many many more emails - requested that I be paid in full for work done on the Panafest website. There was NO response whatsoever from either party to my numerous requests for payment ... UNTIL I actually removed the website and replaced it with a page like this detailing the reasons WHY it was removed. For nearly a YEAR neither of these people would send me an email. Readers should take note that BOTH of these directors, Mr. Yankah and Mr. Halevi had PROMISED on many occasions to pay me at the end of (or during) the most recent Panafest in 2007. In fact, that promise was never kept. In short, both Kojo Yankah and Kohain Halevi were LIARS. I exercised a great deal of patience in waiting to be paid. And I could not help but notice that there always seemed to be funds for the organisers' trips abroad from Ghana to Trinidad, South Africa, Cuba and Brazil (supposedly necessary for the organisation of the event). One would think that it is far more important to pay for the official website, since it is the single most valuable marketing and puclicity tool for the Panafest event.

Once these two people realised that I was exposing their Lies and Broken Promises to pay, they suddenly had the courage to email me again. But instead of working out some means to pay me, they immediately threatened me with legal action for "defaming" their good reputations. They even went so far as having an attorney in California send me threatening emails for supposedly infringing the name of "Panafest". More about the alleged infringement later ... Please note: when you are telling the TRUTH about people and their actions (or lack of), it is the TRUTH.

Another set of emails was then forthcoming from one of the other Board members, a Mr. Kwaku Ofori-Ansa. Instead of addressing the subject of me getting paid, Mr. ofori-Ansa chastised me for dishonouring the memories of great Pan-Africanists such as Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Kwame Nkrumah and many others that he listed. I scratched my head and asked myself, what does my not getting paid the monies owed to me have to do with dead people?

Ramping up his rhetoric over the next few weeks, Mr. Ofori-Ansa then began to introduce questions of my morality, my ethics in how I conduct my profession of photography, stating categorically that I exploit poor people by taking their photos and then selling them for thousands of dollars. What a laugh I had at that. If it were true, I would not have been chasing Panafest for payments. What is puzzling about all these exchanges is that NOT ONCE did someone ever bother to bring up the simple fact that they owed me money. Instead, every effort was made to attack my morals, my ethics, my honesty and my motives - in numerous areas that have nothing to do with Panafest. Instead of just saying, 'yes we owe you money and we should arrive at a resolution', the tactics deployed were those of intimidation and threats as well as impuning my character.

When these various parties finally realised that I would not back down, an arrangement was finally made in June, 2008 to pay me half of the $6,000 amount. I was sent an initial $1,000 and that was all. More (another $2000) was promised, but as usual, that was just more LIES. The deadlines for two more remittances came and went with no further payments received. More LIES from these Liars. In addition to this, one of the Board Members, Esi Sutherland-Addy, sent me an email telling me that I am "depraved" because I was making demands to be paid. Depraved means "morally corrupt" and "perverted". To Ms. Sutherland-Addy, I suggest that she address the morals of her Board of Directors instead of pointing the finger at me. In essence, the Panafest people contract you to do a job - then they DON'T PAY YOU for FIVE YEARS - and then when you demand to be paid, you are called DEPRAVED. I took this page down in June because I stupidly believed that this time the directors would keep their word and pay me. Of course, they didn't - they LIED AGAIN - so this page stayed here until I finally received the other $2000 that was promised to me.

I agreed to cease making any more statements about the parties involved, provided I received the 50% payment of the monies owed to me (as mutually agreed). They finally did pay another $2000 in October. Well, I was quiet for the past four months - that is UNTIL I discovered that Panafest has a new website. Of course, I expected that sooner or later they would find someone to build them a new website. What I didn't expect, was to find that whomever that is (supposedly a company called LEADMAC Consulting) has STOLEN all the text that I originally wrote for the Panafest website that I built. This includes entire pages of text about Cape Coast, the history of Panafest, and various descriptions of Panafest activities - WORD FOR WORD - probably stolen from an internet-archive of the site I originally built. I have not been paid for my work and furthermore there were copyright notices all over the website. I am the person who did the research and wrote about the history of Panafest, the descriptions of Cape Coast, etc. and I have never been paid in full for it.

I find it interesting that the Panafest organisers couldn't be bothered to pay me for the work I did, but seem to have found money to pay someone else for a new website. EXCEPT that these new people have STOLEN my own Copyrighted text - so in effect, they are being paid for MY WORK. So this is the reason why I have re-installed this page on the internet. People who are interested in Panafest (and some of the people who organise it) deserve to know that these people are Liars, Cheats and Thieves. After all, it is so much easier to STEAL from someone than to actually do your own work. So we can add Intellectual Property Theft to the other dishonest actions of the people named above. It's one thing to not pay me - it's something else entirely to then STEAL from me and pay someone else for MY WORK.

I promised earlier to say something about the threat from the lawyer in California. He informed me that I was using the logo of Panafest and the Panafest name in what I wrote and therefore I was committing Trademark and Copyright Infringement. Well I actually went to the trouble of doing a Trademark Search on the name Panafest. I did this search in the USA and in Ghana - and guess what ... the name "Panafest" has NEVER been trademarked in either country. In fact, the name Panafest is also used to promote a technology festival event that is hosted by the motion picture film company "Panavision", which makes camera systems and is headquartered in Calfornia. Can you imagine how stupid a lawyer can be to actually threaten someone with a lawsuit over a supposedly trademarked name - when there actually is NO Trademark registered for that name?

The attorney, Mr. William Godfrey Davis, Esq. wrote the following to me in an email: " ... your use of the name PANAFEST is an infringement of an international copyright and can and will be addressed in Federal court in the U.S, if necessary.  I really don't think you want to get into litigation at that level.  Any judgment will be subsequently addressed to you and your assets in the U.S." I commend the Panafest people for engaging the services of a lawyer who is so stupid that he doesn't even know the difference between a Copyright and a Trademark Infringement. You CANNOT copyright a name and any competent Intellectual Property attorney would know that. However, you CAN TRADEMARK a name.

I found it interesting that an attorney (of all people) would falsely threaten me with a lawsuit over a Trademark Infringement when no infringement ever took place. In fact, it is ILLEGAL to make such threats. Penalties are provided for knowing material misrepresentations in either a notice or a counter notice. Any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, ... is liable for any resulting damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) incurred by the alleged infringer, the copyright owner or its licensee, or the service provider. (Section 512(f)) of the United States Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

Since writing this page, I have heard from several other people and groups who have not been paid by Panafest. It seems I am not alone when it comes to Panafest organizers failing to pay artists and suppliers. if you are one of these victims, feel free to write to me by email and tell me the circumstances of your own situation.  burch@burchcom.com

Update November 12, 2009: From the time this page has appeared on the internet I have received a number of emails. Most are from Ghanaians - some of whom have expressed apologies and sympathy, and others who have been highly critical of my action, including the use of profanity and physical threats. The organisers have had plenty of time to address my issues, but remain silent. But let me state that my grievances with Panafest are only the tip of the iceberg. The event is very poorly organised and it is not me alone who has complaints. The vendors at the 2009 edition were charged substantial fees as exhibitors and then promised hordes of tourists. At the same time, the organisers seemed to put more importance in making sure no one can enter the grounds of the bazaar without paying a fee. As a result very few tourists patronised the bazaar and the vendors were sorely disappointed. But don't take my word for it - listen to what they themselves have to say: Click here for a 5 minute video.

Robert Burch - (former) Webmaster for the Panafest website for the years 2001 to 2008,