According to the Anita Afriyie, Charterhouse, organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, had requested that she pay GH¢10,000 to secure an award during the 2015 edition of the award scheme.
This revelation comes right off an earlier comment by George Quaye, one of the publicly noted employees of Charterhouse, that some gospel musicians bribe their way through the VGMAs.
According to Anita Afriyie, a staff of Charterhouse had called her via phone, explaining that the awards were not given out based on only public voting but also on who can pay what.
The gospel musicians maintains that she denied to pay the said amount. She said she will never pay bribe in exchange for an award and that she has other projects she can invest her money in.
However, Anita Afriyie maintains that she would only name the said staff of Charterhouse if George Quaye comes to publicly name the gospel musicians who had bribed their way through the VGMAs.
“I will only mention the person’s name if George Quaye publicly mentions the gospel musicians who bribe their way through VGMAs. You have to believe what I am saying. I know what am talking about. I have the person’s telephone number, if it were to be George Quaye, I would have told the whole world, but it wasn’t him but another staff of Charterhouse,” she claimed.
Anita further alleged that the VGMA is rife with corruption asking why awards are always given to just a few gospel artistes when there are others with quality hit songs.
“I wonder why Charterhouse refuses to award gospel musicians whose songs have impacted society.The VGMAs are characterised with corruption, I can confidently say that staff of Charterhouse suggest to artistes to pay bribes for awards. I remember a staff of Charterhouse called me on phone in 2015 during the awards after I was nominated to pay GH¢10,000 in exchange for gospel song of the year, but I declined”, she added.