Charter House Replies Kwaisey Pee: “He Only Wants Publicity”

Ghana’s leading events management and production company Charter House, organizers of Ghana Music Awards, have officially reacted to allegations made against them by silky voice contemporary Highlife singer Kwaisey Pee.

Speaking on Peace FM’s “Entertainment Review” yesterday Thursday 25, Nii Aryetey Hammond, head of production at Charter House, said Kwaisey Pee is making all these allegations to get media attention. “It is rather unfortunate because he is trying to say he didn’t deserve the award he won, and yet still he went on stage to receive it and say thank you when his name was mentioned. So if you didn’t deserve it, why did you go for it?” Nii asked.

He said in life nobody wants to associate with failure but everybody wants to be part of success. “So I wouldn’t be because he knows that if he attacks the music awards, obviously he will get the kind of mileage he wants. That is why almost every paper has carried this story to give him the needed publicity”, Nii stated.

The winner of “best male vocal performance” in 2007 Ghana music Award, is alleging that Charter House paid him with that award instead money they owed him for writing and helping Irene and Jane to record a song on her album. Kwaisey also alleged that Fred Darko of Charter House told him that the money Charter House is supposed to pay him is equivalent to the prize of an award so he (Kwaisey Pee) should take the award in place of the money.

Kwaisey has confirmed making the allegation on an Accra based radio station Hitz FM and said Charter House didn’t treat him well at all after he took the award. He said an expensive phone he brought from the UK got missing at the office of Charter House when he was contracted as the voice coach for the “stars of the future” contestants.

He complained that Charter House didn’t do anything about it and anytime he tries to raise the issue they mock him. Kwaisey who has been nominated for best male vocal performance in this year’s Ghana Music Awards, said he was expecting to be nominated in a least four categories: ‘Album of the Year’, Highlife Singer of the Year, ‘Songwriter of the Year’ and ‘Best Male Vocal Performance’.

Juno Abena Turkson, Public Relations Officer for Charter House, has refuted all Kwaisey Pee’s allegations and has also added that musicians do not determine how many categories they should be nominated in. “Kwaisey Pee was contracted to write a song for Irene and Jane, which he did. In exchange for that he said he didn’t want to be paid for it but all he wanted was for him to be acknowledged that he wrote the song which we gladly did.

When he returned from London, he asked for payment even though he had initially said he didn’t want to be paid, and some payment was made to him. If you go to Charter House accounts office right now, they will show you evidence of payment that was made to Kwaisey Pee, based on the song he wrote”, Juno explained.

In a related issue Edward Nana Poku Osei, aka Hammer, producer of Ayigbe Edem, has lashed at Kwaisey Pee, for saying he has a better album than Ayigbe Edem. In a statement issued by “The Last Two Music Group”, Hammer said: “Kwaisey Pee has acted immaturely. He should realize that the world does not revolve around him and if his music did not make it to a lot of categories, then he should restructure his promotion or move to Ghana permanently, and stop condemning other people’s works”.

Hammer also added that “if Kwaisey Pee understands how music is done and appreciated in Ghana, he will realize that for an Ewe artist like Edem to survive in a Twi dominated field, it means he has put in a whole lot of effort into his act”.

Obrafour, Ofori Amponsah, Rex Omar, Blakk Rasta, Appeitus , Kwaw Kesse and other stake holders in the Ghanaian music industry have had issues with Ghana Music Award organizers in the past.