EMY Africa Awards in limbo: Sally threatens to sue event organisers

Entertainment pundit and event organizer, Sally Frimpong Manso has served a notice to the Chief Executive Officer of Exclusive Men Of The Year Africa Awards (EMYAfrica), Kojo Rana, demanding for seven hundred thousand cedis (GHc 700,000).

The demand notice which was signed by David Kwesi Kudoadzi Esq, Managing Partner of Lexkudoz gave the organisers of the award a week to respond.

She says the amount she is demanding is the compensation she is seeking for the inconveniences caused her for EMY's refusal to pay her for helping the company with her ideas and dedicated service for the company since 2014.

Sally, who was part of the team that organized the maiden edition of the EMY Awards, disclosed to Agyemang Prempeh on Power Entertainment on Power 97.9FM Saturday August 11, 2018 that the organisers of the awards scheme owes her an undisclosed amount of money after she worked for the team as a marketer and an event organizer.

She said four years ago, Kojo Rana introduced her to Clement Kwakye who was then an owner of a magazine and they discussed the formation of the now popular awards scheme in Ghana.

According to Sally, Kojo and one Clement Kwakye formed a group of eight including one Mr Amon Kwafo to begin how to successfully launch the EMY’s awards.

“We went to Aburi and met to share ideas on how to get the awards show to be better,” she narrated and revealed she has since been denied the 5% of the net profit from the proceeds of the awards every year as was promised her at the incubation stage.

As a marketer for the company, she said her fuel allowances, commissions and other benefits had not been paid to her since the awards scheme was launched.

““I went to forty companies and did invites with my own money…I was the one who brought Jaguar on board as a sponsor but they have not paid me,” she said in an interview with mypowerfmonline.com.

Ms Frimpong Manso who is also the CEO of Lioness Media Ghana Limited says her suit is to retrieve what has been denied her in the last four years, stressing that “I will fight Kojo Rana with the last drop of my blood.”

Meanwhile, the CEO of EMY’s Awards, Kojo Rana is reported to have disclosed in an interview with Takoradi-based Empire Radio that the company has paid Sally everything due her.

The Exclusive Men of The year Awards (EMY) is an annual fathers day related event that celebrates men and fathers of steel and zeal, whose passion and dedication has rolled out major landmarks in the development and progress of our families, societies and the nation.

Dignitaries, Businessmen, entertainers, sportsmen, social workers, journalists, administrators, philanthropists, mentors, are also awarded during the award event for their outstanding contribution to the country.

Below is the demand notice from Sally's legal team;

“Dear Sir,

DEMAND NOTICE FOR THE IMMEDIATE PAYMENT OF GHC700,00 TO SALLY FRIMPONG.

1. We act as Solicitors for Sally Frimpong (otherwise known as Sally Mann) a member of the organizing Secretariat of EXCLUSIVE MEN OF THE YEAR (EMY) AWARDS (hereinafter referred to as the “Award Scheme”.)

2. Our Client informs us that sometime in the year 2014, given your confidence in her based on her professional expertise, you broached an idea to her. The idea being, an translate an existing men’s magazine known as Exclusive Men’s Magazine into awards scheme. This idea she readily bought into.

3. We are further informed that consequently, a seven member team (of which our Client was a member) was put together to deliberate, brainstorm and crystalize the idea with our Client placed in charge of Publicity.

• 4. Our Client further says that the understanding amongst the members was to harness their individual human resource capital for the collective resultant effect of birthing the above mentioned awards scheme • To this end the members agreed as follows

a. That fuel allowance shall be paid to members for attending weekly meetings.

b. That fuel allowance shall be paid to members for their marketing/sponsorship rounds.

c. That any member who brings in a sponsor shall be paid 10-15% of the value of the said sponsorship.

d. That members will agree on a shareholding arrangement after each awards

e. That each member shall be entitled to 5% of the net profit every year after the awards ceremony.

5. In addition our Client says that her vision and believe in crystalizing this concept motivated her to make personal visits and presentations to over forty companies to seek sponsorship, most of whom have now become household names associated with the Awards Scheme. That her ingenuity, professional competence and industry knowledge contributed significantly to the successful staging and execution of the first edition of the EMY’S AWARDS ceremony in 2015, and subsequent ones in 2016 and 2017.

6. Our Client informs us that having contributed immensely to develop the structures of the Awards Scheme for it to become what it is today, you, together Clement Kwakye, Publisher of Exclusive Men’s Magazine have successfully frozen her out from any of the benefits she is entitled to. Furthermore none of the agreed terms as per paragraph 4 has been fulfilled over the years.

7. Our Client instructs us to inform you that haven been frozen out of the activities of the Secretariat, she is of the opinion that her professional expertise is no longer needed and therefore is willing to walk away amicably from anything connected with the Awards Scheme at a satisfactory compensation.

8. Our client values her professional expertise, all the unpaid allowances, commission and fees she is entitled to, as well as her shareholding in the Awards Scheme over the four years of her involvement from 2014-2018 to be GHC700,000.