Head of Communications at Charterhouse, Mr Robert Klah, says reggae/dancehall musician, Stonebwoy filed for nomination, whereas his rival, Shatta Wale, did contrary.

This comes after Shatta Wale’s absence among the nominees for this year’s edition of Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

According to Robert Klah, artistes’ inclusion in the award scheme is done through seeking consent from the musicians. He added that the Board and Academy is willing to work with anyone who expresses interest in wanting to be part of the nominations.

“The scheme is in such a way that you need to show interest in order to be part. Once you show interest, we will work with you. The interest can be in the form that you are filing or giving consent. So, Stonebwoy showed interest and we worked with him,” he told Andy Dosty on Daybreak Hitz.

Aside from artistes filing for nomination themselves, the organizers of the award scheme gather suggestions from Board members and research personnel, depending on the airwaves a song, album or music video has earned within the year under review.

Prior to this, the two artistes, Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy, were slapped with an indefinite ban after the two were caught in a brawl during the award ceremony in 2019.

Per the Board Chairman, the fracas disrupted the ceremony and threatened the safety of patrons. The two were thus excluded from participating in the 2020 edition of the event.

Following sober reflections from the two dancehall music stars for their actions, the VGMA Board arrived at a consensus to admit them back to the scheme, hoping that such altercations will not reoccur in the subsequent editions of the scheme.

The ban was thus lifted on 28th January 2021.

Nevertheless, Shatta Wale, after being reached out by representatives of the award scheme, declined to take part in the 2022 edition of the ceremony.