Well, Charterhouse after meeting and deliberating with its board of directors and other media whatnots decided to strip off the awards won by Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale over the scuffle which ensued between the two artistes during VGMA at 20.
Assuming it is fine to nullify the awards of these two musicians, put them behind bars, and prosecute them in court, what shall we do to the organisers who failed their distinguished guests and patrons around the world?
Is Charterhouse not killing a fly with a sledgehammer? Our sense of responsibility as a nation is too poor! How no one in this country takes responsibility for anything in this country is befuddling.
Around 11p.m on the awards night, I wrote on my Facebook page that VGMA at 20 looked good and I wish 25 years of governance in the 4th Republic looked the same. But Charterhouse is like the child whose next action disgraces the parents just after he is praised for a good deed. In this era where terrorist attacks are more common than marriage ceremonies, you organise a competitive event for musicians including ‘partois speakers’ who would likely smoke long rolls of the godforsaken herb and you did not put in place vigilant security measures.
Worst is when you know some of these artistes have so much love for hot air, insults and threats against your work and their arch rivals. Or, was it not the same Shatta Wale who scattered some equipment at the International Conference Center in 2013 when he lost an award to Kakie? It is surprising that organisers of the programme were so lousy that they could not estimate the weight of Shatta’s threat. Charterhouse failed to recognise that forewarned, is forearmed: my understanding is that Shatta took to twitter to express injuring intents, indicating a repeat of 2013 events provided he loses key awards to his rivals.
It was so clear that the ‘tired’ security officers present were themselves relishing the performances, hence, couldn’t stop Shatta Wale until he climbed the stage. In fact, Black Cedi of Bhim Nation was the most proactive and sensitive hand at that instance.
After the shame, Charterhouse blamed everyone except themselves. They blamed Shatta, Stonebwoy and the security personnel they hired.
We cannot tolerate this terrible dereliction of responsibility from Charterhouse.`Churches are doing serious security checks at the entrance to their premises, the police and Ghana Armed Forces are on a mass security education of citizens against terrorism and I know since last year, that hotels like Movenpic conduct a serious search at its gates too.
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Followers of the two artistes clashed on stage[/caption]
So, I am particularly flummoxed that Organizers of such a magnanimous event would go to sleep and allow pepper spray and a gun into the place? Who knows how many guns got into the dome that night?
We cannot have a country where no one takes responsibility for anything but rather shift blame. We all seem to be learning irresponsibility too fast from politicians. I believe if Charterhouse accepted responsibility for what happened, they would have meted out a more lenient punishment to the two artistes.
The prosecution in court and the damaged brand in the case of Stonebwoy alone is enough. As for Shatta, his brand is too strong to suffer any damage and I think it is one main reason why the stripping of the awards was not necessary. Here is an artiste who derives his power through controversy and his fan base like him just for that. He has once opted out of VGMA and sang : ‘mi no need an award’ and you turn around to say you have banned him from the same? What reasoning is that?
I agree that artistes must be role models for young people having so much influence over their movements. However, I do not see how we are going to wake up next year, knowing that Shatta Wale or Stonebwoy produced the most popular song but vote for another person for most popular song when that song is a substandard song. I want to see Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy do away with the ‘paah paah’ and climb the stage together at next year’s 3music award to perform the best collaboration for music fans.
It has taken too long for VGMA to have a competitor award scheme, Charterhouse is not an arm of government to enjoy this monopoly in the music industry particularly as its owner is not Ghanaian. We need a competition and maybe 3music Awards would have to up their game.
What Charterhouse needs is not a ban on these guys. It needs a vigilant Black Cedi on their management board so they can plan a more detailed program next time.
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