Organisers of Ghana Music Awards have responded to bribery allegation raised by Hiplife artiste, Screw Face.
In
a Facebook post by the "Gbalagaza" hit maker, he
disclosed that
organisers of Ghana Music Awards years ago asked him to pay an amount to
win an award when he was nominated for the discovery of the year
artiste category.
Charterhouse has responded to the allegations in the press statement below:
"Charterhouse Productions, organizers of the annual Ghana Music Awards has read with
total disdain a post on the facebook wall of ‘former’ Ghanaian musician, Jehoshaphat Kwabena Eshun, stage named Screw face, but known on
facebook as Screw Faze, a bribery claim seeking to bring to disrepute,
Ghana’s biggest awards scheme, the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.
In
the post, Screw facealleges that he did not win his 2007 Ghana Music Awards Discovery of the Year nomination because he refused to pay a
bribe supposedly demanded by an unnamed staff of Charterhouse
Productions.
The organizers of the VGMA’s would like to state on authority that this claim is unfounded, reprehensible andtotally fictitious.
At
the eight edition of the Ghana Music Awards in 2007, “Bue Bue”, a
breakthrough track from Screw Face which featured Castro, earned the
former a nomination in the discovery of the year category. In the
running for that award as well were Ewura Esi, Ohemaa Mercy, Abigail Bedjabeng and King Ayisoba, who won the category with the track “I want
to see you my father”. King Ayisoba would go on to win the traditional
artiste of the year and the most popular song of the year, which was the
biggest honour of the night at the time.
Screwface accepted
defeat and even congratulated King Ayisoba as evident in an interview he
granted ghanaweb.com few weeks after the event.
“The young
musician who was nominated for the 2007 Ghana Music Award as a Discovery
of the year but lost the award to King Ayisoba said he doesn’t feel bad
losing that award BECAUSE HE THINKS THE WINNER ALSO DESERVES IT.
According to him, to be nominated in a category brings you to the lime
light and everybody notices your effort”
We are in the dark as to
why Screw face would disseminate such an atrocious fabrication 10 years
after he lost out to King Ayisoba. But what we do know for sure is that
deep down hisheart, he knows that nobody asked him for any bribe,
because no one individual can make you win anyVGMA category.
Except
for the special recognition categories which are usually
non-competitive and given to honour an industry great in collaboration
with the Musicians Union of Ghana, all other categories are won
exclusively by the combined and compiled results of the VGMA Board and Academy voting as well as the votes from the general public.
The
collation of these votes is done by the worlds’ second largest
accounting firm, KPMG, who would NEVER compromise on their hard earned
integrity for any musician, the VGMA board or event organizers,
Charterhouse.
Yes, sometimes we may not totally agree with the
winner of a category, especially when that winner isn’t our favourite
artiste, but that is the process of all the votes as diligently compiled
by KPMG-event statisticians. No one sees these results until the sealed
pack is delivered live onstage by the team from KPMG.
So how
could anyone have taken money from Screwface to make him win the 2007
discovery of the year category? Or is he perhaps alluding or alleging
that King Ayisoba won because he paid a bribe? The same person he had
earlier granted interviews to commend?
Daddy Lumba, Kojo Antwi, Lord Kenya, Reggie Rockstone, Kwabena Kwabena, Okyeame Quame, Ofori Amponsah, Becca, Efya, Sarkodie, Shatta Wale and a lot more industry
greats have all won a GMA plaque at some point in their careers. Is
Jehoshaphat Eshun suggesting that they won because they paid bribes?
Thank God they are all alive totell their winning stories.
It is a
very unfortunate assertion and a cheap publicity stunt from an artiste
who is clearly desperately seeking attention after years of a lacklustre
career. Our advice toyoung Jehoshaphat Eshunis to return to the studio,
release a great track and hopefully he can become the star he so
desperately wants to be.
Regarding this ludicrous and totally fictitiousbribery allegation,it would be in his best interest to either
prove it or shut it, before he's asked to prove it in a court of
competent jurisdiction.
The VGMA’s welcomes discerning and
varying opinions and does not seek to gag anyone with any genuine
concerns related to the scheme. Abuse of any kind, false allegations
that seek to defame and denigrate the brand in any way, will however not
be tolerated".
Thank you.
George Quaye
CHARTERHOUSE PRODUCTIONS |
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