The Board of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) has officially lifted the indefinite ban placed on Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy.
According to the Press Statement, sighted by The Vaultz Media (TVM), the artist can now file nominations to be part of the upcoming award but must, however, do so before the 15th February, deadline set to close nominations. The statement further noted that other artists who collaborated with Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy in the year under review could now submit their works for nominations in this year’s edition of the VGMA.
Meanwhile, Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy are yet to react to this new development.
It hasn’t been long when Robert Klah, Head of Public Events and PRO at Charterhouse, the main organizer of the VGMA, in a conversation on Daybreak Hitz stated that conversations on when to lift the ban imposed on the two artists ensued at the board’s inaugural meeting. He also stated that Charterhouse will later issue an official statement after the board meets both artists and their management to talk out outstanding issues. Mr. Klah emphasized that there was a reason why the altercation happened and they want to be sure that it doesn’t resurface, therefore there was the need to have that kind of conversation with both teams to understand and agree on how things should move.
That aside, it can be recalled that the two dancehall artists were banned indefinitely from the awards scheme as a result of the infamous brawl caused by the two acts during the awards ceremony in 2019 when Shatta Wale and his entourage stormed the stage while Stonebwoy was receiving an award. The two were kept in police cells for 48 hours and were stripped of the awards they won that night; their plaques were taken back by organizers of the awards show. On the night, due to panic caused by the altercation which led to people fleeing the venue, organizers failed to announce the Artist of the Year award in which both artists were nominees. Shatta Wale later posted on social media a few minutes to the announcement that he has pulled out of the award scheme going forward.
Speaking about Shatta Wale, It is worth noting that for Shattta Wale, this wouldn’t be the first time he has experienced such an issue with the board of the VGMA. In 2013, Shatta Wale was banned from the VGMA because he maligned the board of the awards scheme. The ban was later lifted after five years in 2018.
