George Quaye, the former Public Relations Officer of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA), has disclosed that some members of the gospel music community are engaging in unethical practices to influence the Academy and Board Members of the awards.
According to Quaye, these “gospel people” are resorting to desperate measures to sway the voting process and nominations in favour of their preferred artists.
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He expressed disappointment in their actions, stating that it goes against the integrity of the awards and undermines the hard work of other deserving artists.
“‘Gospel people' going round DESPERATELY doing all they can to ‘INFLUENCE ‘ VGMA Academy and Board Members. ‘Worldly' acts are focusing on their fans as should be done! When we talk p3, then Gospel people bore! Smh,” Quaye wrote on Facebook.
The VGMA is one of the biggest music awards events in Ghana and is highly respected in the industry. The Academy and Board Members responsible for the nominations and voting process are made up of music professionals and industry experts, who are supposed to be impartial and unbiased in their decision-making.
The VGMA Academy has 30% of the voting rights in each category, while the Board has 40%.
The general public has been allocated the remaining 30%. However, Quaye's statement suggests that some members of the gospel music community are trying to undermine the integrity of the awards by using underhanded tactics to sway the votes in their favour.
This has understandably caused concern among fans on social media, who have questioned the integrity of the awards and poked him to name the unscrupulous persons.
Mr Quaye did not back down from his accusations after sharing them online on May 2, 2023. He went ahead to issue another statement as a reminder that unethical behaviour has no place in the music industry.
“Encourage your fans to vote! Lobby them! Push them! Beg! Implore them! Buy them credits! Get the data! Sing for them if you have to! Go from house to house if you must! Just leave the Board and Academy alone to do their work!!!” Quaye hammered.
As the VGMA prepares for its next awards event this Saturday, it will be interesting to see what steps are taken to prevent this kind of behaviour from taking place.
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