A number of entertainment industry practitioners have petitioned the Board of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards to consider constituting itself with representation from all the sixteen regions of Ghana.
The petition which is in the names of Abdul-Hanan Adam of Charterhouse Productions Ghana, Melvin Tarlue of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Juliet Enam Obiri of Vodafone Ghana Limited, King Zico Ishaq Newton of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and Mohammed Abdul-Fatawu of Accra, said the current constitution of the Board is discriminatory.
“The current board for the VGMA under the leadership of Madam Theresa Ayoade, Chief Executive Officer of Charterhouse Productions is without diversity and regional balance.
“Regions usually without representation include Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, Northern, North East and Savannah Region.
“The rest are Oti, Upper East, Upper West and Volta region respectively,” it said.
The petition noted that the “majority (about 90 percent) of nominees for the annual awards ceremony over the years are artists or musicians based in Accra, the nation’s capital without representation from other regions who compose music in their ethnic languages.”
The Vodafone Ghana Music Awards was launched in 2000 to serve as a platform to celebrate and encourage musical creativity in Ghana. In the 20 years that it has been running, the award scheme has often been rocked with controversy with many saying that it has not been a critical bar-holder for quality music in Ghana.
VGMA has come under perception as more of a popularity contest where quality music is alien to its acknowledged and awarded.
According to the petitioners, one of the downfalls of the VGMA is that its Board members are often artiste Mangers, something that means that awards are probably often decided from backroom politics rather than creativity and ingenuity.
“We also urge that the current status quo where some artist managers such are members of the VGMA Board and other committees should be abolished because we strongly believe it does not promote fairness,” the peeved entertainers charged.