Personal Principles vs. Business

What is the issue?

In Ghana, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) prohibits celebrities from influencing certain products like alcohol; knowing the influence these celebrities have on the people, precisely the youth or fans.

Though some have accepted the ban in good fate, others opine that it is unfair to these celebrities since such deals serve as a source of livelihood to most of them especially after the festive seasons are over.

Already, artists do not make much from their work because of the shambolic structures governing the entertainment industry and the works of these artists. Also, Event promoters in Ghana do not get sponsorship easily from these products companies which mostly serve as the backbone of such entertainment events. The rules of the FDA also affected media houses after banning them from promoting selected products like alcoholic beverages at certain times of the day, making media houses lose out on their Golden goose.

Why is this issue worth discussing?

In spite of all the protest against some of the rules of the FDA from celebrities like Wendy Shay, some media men and event promoters, actress and brand influencer, Nana Ama McBrown, has publicly declared that “No amount of money will make me promote alcohol and bleaching creams.”

Her decision was purely based on upholding her personal principles. While some support her completely since they are cognizant of the ramifications these two products have on human beings in the future. Others have also disagreed with her decision opposing that, the people will patronize it anyways so why not let go off personal feelings in order to get the job done.

This topic has stirred up various conversations mostly around personal principles and business.

Full pocket or personal principles?

Most people have principles governing their everyday interactions and dealings, however, these principles seem to be overshadowed by the needs of a bigger group like company or job requirements.

While some are willing to sacrifice such principles for the greater good, others are resolved on upholding their integrity with little or no regard to the repercussions of their decisions.

The status, either financially or in a place of influence, would also have a great impact on this decision. To exemplify, Nana Ama Mcbrown is one of the richest artists in Ghana with her numerous brand ambassadorial deals making her influential, her decision to choose principle over money won’t affect her much. As compared to another who is neither financially liberated nor on top of the hierarchy in their company or business, such a person’s decisions will have palpable effects on them as they may lose their jobs or bankrupt shortly.

This calls for introspection on some principles one would compromise on and for what purpose?

5 Years Afronation Is A Big Step for Ghana

What is the issue?

The internationally recognized event, Afronation, was hosted in Ghana in 2019, putting a plethora of stars on one stage for an intensive unforgettable four-day experience. The successful event which hosted various cultures from around the world caused a significant improvement in Ghana’s tourism sector.

Not long after the event Ghanaians were informed that Ghana’s government has signed a deal with Afronation to host the festival for five years consecutively. While some see this step as a big deal for Ghana because of its associated benefits, others opine that the government of Ghana has given taxpayers money to foreigners instead of partnering with Ghanaian event organizers like Charterhouse.

Why is this worth discussing?

In a recent publication, a popular Ghanaian artiste manager, Bulldog, has joined the wagon of those saying the government of Ghana has given taxpayers money to foreigners.

However, like George Quaye, Nabil Alhassan, and other Ghanaians who see the immense benefit of these deal, rep from Muse Africa, Nana Yaw Wiredu, has debunked the point of Bulldog listing some benefits Ghanaians will receive from the deal with Afronation to buttress his point.

What are some of the benefits Ghana stands to get in this five year deal with Afronation?

Socially, the four-day event was an accurate example of cultural exchange for the country considering the number of nations in the country at the time. Exposing both Ghanaians and foreigners to new cultures. It also served as a platform to network with new people new businesses and a perfect avenue to sell businesses to other people from around the world.

Economically, the influx of foreigners into the country had a major effect on its economic value. Not forgetting the foreign exchange associated with that. Small, medium and large scale businesses thrived at the season. Hotels, guest houses, homes, shops, drinking spots, drivers, and sellers had a field day with all these people patronizing services and products from them. The show also employed hundreds of Ghanaians a day which included vendors, those involved in ticketing, and other facets of the show, including the hired Ghanaian labor force who built everything about the event from the ground up.

Looking at international relations, a show like this in Ghana is an excellent facelift for the country. Synonymous with Dubai’s government using powerful platforms to encourage travels to the country, which has lifted the image of the country making it a hub for travels and businesses. Events like Afronation use all the major media platforms in their promotion which directly is a promotion and projection of Ghana on all these platforms to the rest of the world. This trickles down to Ghanaians leaving outside the country and how other powerful nations perceive Ghana. That’s all in spite of the other indirect benefits that come with having events like these in the country. For example, not long ago Trump announced the suspension of all Nigerian immigrant visas, or adding 5 countries to be ban from obtaining US visas, Ghana seem to be immune from such occurrences. This could be a benefit Ghana is enjoying for having strong media throw the spotlight on the country.

The event also served as a yardstick and a case study for other events in Ghana to learn new things to improve the quality of events organized and held by Ghanaians.

Much won’t be said about the tourism sector since it saw the most growth because of Afronation.

Why Use Expensive Artistes When DJs With A Hype Man Can Give The Same Experience?

What is the issue?

Over the years, most Ghanaians and musical concert followers have been complaining about the subpar performance of some Ghanaian artists on stage. While most of them charge thousands of cedis to show up on stage, the quality of performance doesn’t correlate with the amounts they charge.

Patrons of such events don’t get any new experiences at events since most artists in Ghana do not give any creative performance on stage, nor even perform their songs with a live band for a different feel. In most cases, artistes come on stage with a lot of entourage who are neither backup singers nor dancers, these people crowd the stage leaving little or no room for the artist to utilize the stage.

As if that was not enough, these artists end up miming their songs the entire performance for some few minutes, get tired and leave the singing to those in the auditorium while they scream “minti o minti oo, Osi den osi den.”

Staunch followers and patrons of such shows are able to predict performances and even the order of songs of some artists on various stages.

Why is this worth discussing?

In a publication by Ghana Web, CEO of Media Excel productions, Kwesi Ernest has called out Ghanaian artists to justify their high charges for their shows. Like others, Ernest does not see the correlation between the high charges of artists and their low standard performance.

To corroborate this, the Director of Editorial of Muse Africa, Nana Yaw Wiredu, in a recent interview explained that event organizers should be blamed for putting such hit artists on stage for them to deliver so poorly. According to him, the current crop of events in Ghana rides on the backbone of artists with hit songs at that moment. So patrons are convinced to come to the show to see these artists instead of convincing them to come and have a good show in spite of if the artist billed has a recent hit song or not.

What is the way forward?

To Nana Yaw Wiredu, event organizers should be strategic in billing artists for their shows, since most of them end up billing the same group of people for all events despite how tired they may be.

He also advised that instead of paying huge sums of money to hit song artists to come and jump on stage and scream, why not get a DJ to play the songs just like they do at events and then get a hype man who would be doing the screaming, jumping and boosting the morale of the people at the event for less the price they give to these artists?

He further said that, if event organizers decide to use hit song artists for events, they should blend them with other artists who don’t have hit songs at the moment or those who won’t be so busy that season so they fill in the loopholes created by these tired hit song artists.

Why Most Ghanaians Prefer Nigerian Comedians to GH Comedians

What is the issue?

Comedy in Ghana, albeit young, has seen an exponential growth but slow appreciation from Ghanaians. While comedians are doing their best to prove their worth, some Ghanaians are also doing their best to prove otherwise. GH comedians have constantly been ridiculed and compared to their colleagues in Nigeria in all aspects. While Ghanaians are reluctant to accept theirs, they have an open arm for Nigeria comedians. Event planners in Ghana like Charterhouse and Citi would rather book Nigerian comedians than their own. Ghanaian comedy lovers would also rather patronize a show that has Nigerians performing than Ghanaians. Once in the auditorium Nigerian comedians are cheered and tolerated more than Ghanaian comedians are in their own country.

Why is this worth discussing?

For a long time now, most publications by Ghanaian writers have been to praise Nigerian comedians at the expense of Ghana’s, as if that was not enough, even when Ghanaian performers get standing ovations at events, their successes are undermined and overlooked while praises are being showered at Nigerian comedians even if they had a low moment. Now, attacking and making comedians uncomfortable for a material they said on stage is becoming a new trend to criticize GH comedians.

Recently, comedian OB had a falling out with some prominent people for a joke he made about a prominent person in his country even though people laughed at the joke when it landed. Lekzy Decomic also shared experience with some politicians and men of God bastardizing him for a joke on stage, other comedians have also shared their stories about people in the creative space making their work difficult for a joke they made.

Why is this so, how different are these two groups of comedians?

Aside from the fact that Nigeria’s comedy industry has so many years of growth and experience on Ghana’s, here are some differences between Ghana’s comedy industry and Nigerians’ which makes Ghanaians gravitate towards Nigerian Comedians than their own.

Content-wise, because of the experience and the wider scope of knowledge gathered by Nigerian comedians because of their traveling, they seem to have richer contents as compared to Ghanaians who are still learning even though they have been doing extremely well with their little experience.

Secondly, in terms of value or payment, when billed by Ghanaian event organizers, Nigerian comedians are valued and paid much more than their colleagues in Ghana. This is mostly because of the vast wealth of knowledge and the magnitude of the brand they carry. And mostly because for shows like 1000 laughs and December to Remember, organizers assume these Nigerian brands are the reasons for their huge numbers.

As a result of the aforementioned paragraph, Nigerian Comedians live a life of luxury as compared to Ghanaians. Lekzy decomic in an interview once revealed that most Nigerian comedians live a high-class life, one that could be compared to that of the A-list musicians in Ghana, he added that they drive the most expensive cars and live in mansions where they are. Unlike them, most A-list Ghana comedians have other sources of income since comedy money is more of hand to mouth. Comedian OB, for instance, is a practicing optometrist. With very few of them having enough to even afford a car.

Unlike Ghanaian comedians, Nigerians are well-traveled to various parts of Africa and other continents to perform or visit. This, of course, has enriched their knowledge and materials, as compared to Ghanaians who normally travel to Nigeria after their breakthrough. These travels have indirectly increased the price tags of these Nigerian comedians making them a hot commodity than Ghanaians.

Also, Nigerian comedians are revered in both their country and Ghana, whereas Ghanaians find it difficult to appreciate theirs. Comedy in Nigeria is also seen as a popularity contest, because of this, Nigerian comedians have a strong and large fan base, they also command numbers and followers and have a great influence on their fans. Which seems to be the opposite for Ghanaian comedians.

Furthermore, while performing in Ghana, Nigerian comedians are accorded the liberty to pick on anyone or topic in Ghana for their contents, they speak and make fun of their country and sometimes some prominent people in Ghana and Nigeria. After such jokes, Ghanaians laugh and applaud them for it. However, this isn’t the same for Ghanaian comedians in most cases. People take offense at jokes performed by these comedians making it difficult to navigate and make their work easy. Interestingly, When a Nigerian flop during a performance in Ghana, no media house seems to talk about it, but Ghana comedians seem to make the front page or trends when they have a bad day.

Here is where it gets interesting, lately, in spite of all these, it seems Ghanaian comedians have weathered the storm and have developed their skills. Ghanaian comedians receive the loudest cheer, laughter, and applause during their performance as compared to Nigerians. This is because Ghanaian audience is able to relate to jokes made by the Ghanaian comedians since it normally circulates around happenings in Ghana and things they are familiar with, like Ghanaian politics, religion, ethnical idiosyncrasies among others.

Despite not having a lot of things going for them, GH comedians in most cases outshine their colleagues from Nigeria, but of course Ghana’s media refuse to report it.

Until Ghana starts appreciating theirs, no one will.

Entertainment versus Politics in Ghana

What is the issue?

In Africa and especially Ghana, politics has caused so much division and damage to the system and to openly declare one's political affiliation is considered suicidal. Especially people in the entertainment business.

Irrespective of how the affairs of the nation are being run, people are expected to stay quiet and not voice out their opinions for the fear of been tagged with a political party. Like some businesses being folded up because of the owner's ties to a political party, some entertainers in Ghana have also lost their daily bread because they spoke ill off or showed their support to a particular political party.

Why is this issue worth discussion?

Renowned Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie, finds himself in a hairy situation as people are criticizing him for not making a song to speak on the matters faced by Ghanaians under the ruling government NPP. In previous years and administration, the rapper, like other influential artists took to their social media handles to criticize and point out some problems in the system. Sarkodie kicked his a notch higher when he released various hit songs to address such issues.

Now, some people are calling him out saying he errs on the side of NPP since he hasn’t done the same for the current government of Ghana. Others also have come to his defense saying that just like Sarkodie, they also have mouths and can speak truth to the government.

Should people be treated different or lose their livelihood because of their political affiliations?

Some banks, businesses and positions held by very prominent people in a particular political party have been lost when oppositions come into power. Some actors like Agya Koo and Mr. Beautiful to mention a few have now been benched because they showed their affiliation to a particular party in Ghana.

To Security Personnel at Entertainment Events

What is the issue?

For some time now entertainment events in Ghana have become more dangerous than entertaining to some people; either on or off stage. Ranges from the physical attack of an artist on stage by displeased fans, attack of other fans in the crowd by a bad group, security personnel physically attacking euphoric fans, attack of media team by fans or crew of an artist and now to injuries incurred by some structures or setup from the show.

Another aspect of these incidents that have caught attention and baffles most people has been the attitude of security personnel at such events or the general behavior at security personnel when they come in contacts with A- list artists.

It seems most of the security and safety personnel including, police, soldiers, ambulance service and first aid trainees tasked with various security and safety aspects of such events have continually proven ineffective or unable to control situations especially when their expertise were required.

Why is this worth discussing?

On the weekend, at the musical concert organized by the Ghanaian UK based musician, Fuse ODG, two guys were severely wounded by broken trusses on the stage. In spite of the presence of security personnel at the scene, these gentlemen were left at the mercy of civilians at the scene with no medical background to help transport them to the hospital for medical attention.

 It has also been reported by an eye witness that, there was an ambulance parked near the event. However, the driver could not be found in the time of distress.

This has stirred up a social media conversation on the efficiency and effectiveness of these persons tasked to protect the people at such events. While others think they are simply not doing their jobs but are only there to enjoy the show, record and take pictures with these stars, others say they do their jobs but not their best.

Not to say that there haven’t been events in Ghana where the security and safety personnel were close to perfect in their dealing. But such situations are becoming rare at such grand events.

Are these security people fully briefed of their responsibilities at such gatherings, and what are the measures to ensure that they do what they are tasked with?

Mostly, when there are viral social media videos of a celebrity being mobbed by crazed fans at events or airports, there always are security personnel in their uniforms also with phone cameras chasing these stars for a picture, instead of staying at their post and ensuring the safety and security of the celebrity and others around.

Also, videos of entertainment shows mostly have police and soldiers on duty busily dancing and recording with their personal phones rather than paying attention to the crowd and their posts in order to control any incident.

However, security personnel who travel with international artists from the western world, and those who are on duty at big international events or concerts seem to be up in doing and attentive than most in Ghana and some parts of Africa.

Further into the case of security personnel physically assaulting fans, it seems such incidents are not investigated after events, the security personnel go scot-free at the detriment of their victims. The same applies to personnel who have been videoed doing contrary to what they were posted to do at such events.

Are Ghanaian Musicians Broke?

What is the issue?

The assertion that music does not pay in Ghana is a well-established fact mostly corroborated by industry players including some A- list artist.

Though everything about music in Ghana looks glamorous and luxurious, it seems that it all it is, it just looks like it! The flashy cars, outlandish houses, fame, and all the specs that draw attention to the industry are all facades.

The biggest challenge faced by most Ghanaian musicians is converting their craft, skill, sweat, and fame into money to support their lifestyle without having to take on a side job. Though a handful of them have made a decent living out of music.

Why is this worth discussing?

In a recent interview with a former Ghanaian musician, Nhyirahba Kojo, he affirmed the assertion that most Ghanaian musicians are broke and that their fame doesn’t correlate with their pockets and accounts. He further supported his point with the fact that though music is showbiz: show and business, the show aspect outweighs the business part in the Ghanaian music industry.

In the past, this idea has also been continually mentioned by a Ghanaian dancehall artiste Shatta wale who believes that most of the famous Ghanaian musicians were poor and did not know the business aspect of music.

Also, some young arts in Ghana have also confirmed this story in a series of interviews but were still not perturbed in their quest of pursuing music in Ghana.

These avowals have not only been debated and denied by some top musicians in Ghana, it also created a feud between musicians who were mentioned as broke, and those who mentioned them.

There are also the cases of veteran Ghanaian musicians living in abject poverty though they did music for the most part of their lives and could be categorized as A- list artists in their era.

Is this a problem of structures or lack of education for Ghanaian musicians?