The Telecel Ghana Music Awards 2025 (TGMA) Board has responded to why King Paluta’s ‘Makoma’ was not nominated in this year’s scheme.
Contrary to rumours of supposed profanity in the song, a press release signed by Robert Klah, the Head of Communications and Public Events at Charterhouse, indicates otherwise.
According to the TGMA Board, “each artiste can have only one song per category, except for Best Collaboration, Best International Collaboration and Best Music Video.”
They further explain that, “This rule prevents vote-splitting and ensures that artists have the most substantial chance of winning.”
“Using King Paluta’s ‘Aseda’ and ‘Makoma’ as an example, we applied this rule to select the most popular song. Based on our research, including streaming numbers and airplay from 175 radio stations, ‘Aseda’ was adjudged the more popular choice in both Highlife and Most Popular Song of the Year categories.”
The statement
They also acknowledge that although the Board relaxed this rule in some notable years of the scheme, its current stance is to allow only one nomination per artist per category.
Following the release of the 26th TGMA nominations, a one-week window for errors and omissions was opened. “We appreciate the submissions received and have responded to each artist via email,” the TGMA Board stated.
The TGMA Board reaffirms its commitment to fairness for artists. They also reiterate their dedication to educating stakeholders, leveraging the error and omission window as a valuable learning tool.
This is not the first time the award scheme is introducing the ‘one-artiste-one-song-in-a-category’ rule. In 2016, the same principle was applied to Bisa Kdei when he had two hit songs: ‘Mansa’ and ‘Bother Brother’ but only ‘Mansa’ got nominated.
Contrary to speculations that ‘Brother Brother’ was not nominated because it had a cuss word, report has it that he was rather advised to choose his biggest song for nomination when he was informed the Board would not nominate two songs by an artiste in a category. He, therefore, opted for ‘Mansa’.
However, in subsequent editions, the TGMA Board yielded to requests to allow multiple songs from artists in a category. The current information, therefore, means that the Telecel Ghana Music Awards has reverted to its previous rule.
TGMA Board on Errors and Omissions
After reviewing their nomination list through the one week error and omissions window, the TGMA Board released their response.
The TGMA Board, after its review found only one omission. According to a statement, the Board got informed through a petition that Kuami Eugene also contributed to writing of Okyeame Kwame’s ‘No Competition.’
“The TGMA Board has corrected the song ‘No Competition’ in the Songwriter of the Year category. The song was initially credited only to Okyeame Kwame. However, after review, we confirm that Kuami Eugene was a co-writer. The official nominees list has been updated accordingly.”
The Press Release
The TGMA Board has also indicated that it is committed to ensuring a fair and transparent process for all artists.
In ‘No Competition’, both Kuami Eugene and Okyeame Kwame accentuate the hustle they have been through to get to the top. They claim they have no competition because of their uniqueness and resilience.
The song was produced by Kuami Eugene and MOGBeatz.
However, the main awards ceremony at the Accra International Conference Centre is slated for May 3, 2025. Ahead of the 26th edition, a pre-party will take place on May 2, bringing together nominees and industry stakeholders for networking, discussions, and celebrations.
The TGMA remains Ghana’s most prestigious music awards platform, recognizing excellence across various genres and contributions to the industry.
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