A Legal Practitioner, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo has said organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA), Charter House acted in good faith by stripping dancehall artistes, Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy of all the awards they won at the 2019 edition of the event.
Stonebwoy drew a gun after Shatta Wale rushed onto the stage with his fans while the former was receiving an award.
Both have since apologized to Ghanaians over the incident.
The lawyer on Citi FM’s/ TV’s News analysis programme, The Big Issue said Charter House’s decision was right, given that the two artistes acted irresponsibly at the event.
“I have seen excerpts of rules that were given to artistes who attended the show. Clearly it was stated in black and white. If you are not receiving an award, do not go onto the stage and so it was extremely irresponsible on the part of Shatta Wale to have gone up there hence the basis for the stripping of the award. Equally reckless on the part of Stonebwoy to carry a firearm and pull it up.”
“Of course the criminal aspect is being handled by the police and so be it but they the organisers who had a contract with these individuals, stripping them of the awards on the night was the right thing to do.”
Aside being banned indefinitely, the two artistes were also instructed to return plaques received on the night to Charter House immediately.
The two remaining awards that were unannounced on that night, the most popular song of the year and the artiste of the year have also been nullified.