Mzbel’s outright comment that she does not want to have anything to do with this year’s Ghana Music Awards (GMA) has been a source of intense discussion in showbusiness circles since last week.
Mzbel, known for her sassy stage act and beguiling lyrics, told Showbiz last week : “I get nominated all the time and never win any award. So they should please leave me out this time around…. I have no problem with Charterhouse, the organisers, but all I’m saying is that I have had enough and they should let me be.”
Mzbel, born Nana Akua Amoah, said that anytime the GMA nominations are discussed on radio and TV, nothing good is said about her. “Aside not winning any award, I only get negative vibes from the panellists and the public when the phone lines are opened. People say all kinds of bad things about me and these affect my life and discourage my fans.
“If after all the insults I win an award that would make up for the negative vibes but I get nothing. I don’t want to be insulted anymore.” According to her, she has made known her protest to the organisers.
“I have conveyed the message to Charterhouse when they called me to inform me that my song E dey Be has been nominated but they wouldn’t budge saying the award is a public thing and once I have been nominated there is nothing they can do about it.
Events Director of Chaterhouse Theresa Ayoade confirmed to Showbiz that Mzbel had protested but since her work is out in the public domain and the whole nomination process is a public thing, she cannot say she doesnt want to be part of it.
“The public and connoisseurs of the music industry come up with the nominations. So even if the person nominated doesn’t want to be part of it, there is nothing Chaterhouse can do about it. The person will still get nominated and might even go on to win the award but it is up to the person to come receive it or not.”
Touching on Mzbel’s other reason for kicking against her involvement in the up coming GMA because she never wins although she has been nominated several times, Mrs Ayoade said “ It seeems some musicians do not still realise that all cannot be winners every time. They are probably yet to understand that nominations do not automaticallly lead to winning, no matter how many times an artiste may be nominated. It will however take continual transparency on the part of the organisers to uphold its integtrity.”
Mr Bernard Bosumprah, a lawyer with specialisation in intellectual property law, expressing his opinion on the issue, told Showbiz that any artiste has the right to turn down participation in an awards scheme or reject an award if he or she feels any qualms about the organisers or the organisation.
Bosumprah, who is also the Copyright Administrator, stated that Mzbel as an individual can decide not to have anything to do with the awards and she cannot be compelled to go and receive an award she does not want.
“She can say she does not want it. It is her personal right. On the other hand, the organisers need not consult anybody before going public with names of nominees for awards. They are selecting from a pool of material which is already in the public domain and they are at liberty to determine who has been nominated or who has won an award.”
On whether Mzbel can go to court to prevent Charterhouse from including her work in the nominations for awards, Mr Bosumprah said: “The courts are part of the rights granted to us as individuals through the 1992 Constitution.
If Mzbel feels very strongly that she wants to stop the organisers from taking decisions she deems not right, she can go to court. It is the responsibility of the court to decide if there is any merit or not in the case but she cannot be prevented from going to court. It is up to her to determine whether she wants to go to court or not.”
Bosumprah said he was aware that Mzbel is not the first to openly express some form of dissatisfaction with the GMA and that some other musicians have had cause to openly state their grievances against the awards in the past.
