The Ghana Movie Awards, since its inception in 2010, has been constantly dismissed as one of the most poorly organised award shows in the country, joining the leagues of 4syte TV Music Video Awards and Price Mckay’s  Radio and Television Awards.

Every year the scheme, like many others, comes with its own controversies  from the nominees announcement to the main event.

Arnold Asamoah Baidoo, one of Ghana’s foremost showbiz writers, in a post on Facebook (which he re-echoed on Starr FM  and Rainbow Radio in Accra) opines that showbiz writers and pundits do not generally scrutinise the GMA just like they do to the VGMAs because Fred Nuamah and other organisers of the event have developed the popular  dead goat syndrome or “Yentie Obiaa” attitude.

Anyway, here’s my assessment of what transpired at the awards:

 

Location

The choice of the location (Kempinski Hotel) was a very good decision by Fred Nuamah and his team considering the nature of the awards.

 

Stage, Lighting and Sound

The stage no doubt, was one of the best stage setups in recent times. The simple but classy stage suited the event. The set designer did a fantastic job. The choice of lights used for the events was also on point. Unlike other awards schemes like 4syte TV Music Video Awards which is usually fraught with problems of sound, this years GMA the sound quality was very good.

 

Mrs and DJ

The choice of the MCs and DJ was good. Anita Erskine, the drive time host  of Starr FM has proved that she is the master of her game. Her presence on stage and her ability to intertwine  the English Language and French made it pleasing to listen to her whenever she appeared on stage. The pairing with media personality and model, Vimbai made it for me.

DJ Mic Smith kept the audience nodding to his choice of music on the night. The Y FM DJ knew what song to drop at what particular time. His choice of playlist kept a lot of the patrons in the auditorium even though the programme saw a late start.

 

Red Carpet

The red carpet was one of the most poorly organised sessions in recent times. The red carpet session of the just launched Treasure Kids Newspaper ( a children’s event)  was better-coordinated than what I saw at the Ghana Movie Awards.

The whole red carpet was crowded with no coordination, no host…basically nothing to show that it was a red carpet session apart from the carpet rolled on the ground, as well as a basic backdrop.

 

Time 

The award which was scheduled to start at 7pm started way beyond 10pm. The several patrons who were there were seen in groups standing out in the main corridor to the hall. It was no surprise when veteran actress Maame Dokono openly expressed her anger when the show started.

 

Award Recipients 

Most awardees didn’t turn up to receive their awards and for those who did, the drama on stage was just over the top. Is it because they didn’t value the awards?

 

Overall View

Over all the Ghana Movie Awards was average, if you ask me. Fred Nuamah and his team should re-strategise  and come back next year. He should also make his board (if any exists) public,  and avail himself to the media for questioning.