Encomium
This is the time of the year when private individuals, companies and corporate organizations are either counting their losses or celebrating their achievements. In Ghana, like the saying goes, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, about major events that the media and the public couldn’t ignore but talk, gossip and discuss on various social platforms. Encomium Weekly brings you major news and events that shaped 2015 in Ghana…
Sarkodie’s controversial collaboration with American top rapper Ace Hood
When news broke that one of Ghana’s multiple award winning rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie had succeeded in collaborating with Ace Hood, one of America’s A-list rapper, it became headline entertainment news as both his fans and critics couldn’t keep calm on the deal. While some people, particularly his loyal fans welcomed the news with open arms and saw it as an opportunity to put Ghana on the world map, gist however surfaced that the Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie was quoted during an interview on a radio station in Accra that it was Ace Hood who approached him for a duet and he actually didn’t pay him any money to get him to feature in the hit song ‘New guy’, Ace Hood was reported to have reacted to the news saying it was Sarkodie who approached him and not the other way round. He added via his twitter handle that he was actually paid $25,000 to feature in the song and he didn’t do it for free as painted by Sarkodie. And though all of these do not seem to add up because if actually it was Ace Hood that contacted Sarkodie for the song, why did Sarkodie pay him and why would the song read, Sarkodie featuring Ace Hood and not vice versa. However, all the doubting Thomases who never believed the news in the first instance, were left speechless when the video of the song was released and the issue of who contacted who didn’t matter anymore.
Top hip life artiste Kwaw Kese arrested for smoking cannibas in public
Controversial Ghanaian hip life artiste, Kwaw Kese, who was already mourning over the death of long time buddy and manager, Fennec Okyere, who was murdered by unknown assailant(s) in his Manet home in Accra last year was however not spared by the law enforcement agents, when he was arrested in Kumasi for publicly smoking weed with some friends a day after his performance at one of the biggest shows in Ghana. The incident happened at exactly 2am on Sunday at a popular hangout called Plus 2. Kwaw Kese who remained in police custody was released after so much appeal from both his colleagues and fans who believed he must have learned one or two lessons from the life changing experience of spending quality time in the prison despite his health condition. He was reported to have been taken to
the hospital on few occasions due to the poor condition he was going through in the prison. The hip-life artiste definitely must have learnt how to be of good behaviour in a hard way and he proved this when he was eventually released from jail by setting up a campaign to help revive the prison yards to make it a little bit comfortable. He also empowered inmates while in prison so that when they are set free, they won’t come out to an empty world or go back to their old ways, because according to him, the prison is not out of bounds for anybody regardless of one’s status or personality. You never know when you might offend the law or end up there when you least expected, adding that he just wants to live a more responsible life after experiencing reality in a hard way.
Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings lost mother
The Rawlings also experienced the cold hands of death when the mother of the ever young and elegant former first lady of Ghana lost her mother, Mrs. Felicia Agyemang on Thursday, November 5, 2015. Although, Mrs. Rawlings has not personally granted any interview on that issue a statement from the family, signed by a representative, Yaa Achia Agyeman stated: “The family of Mrs. Felicia Agyemang would like to formally announce the passage of our dear mother, grandmother and great-grand mother on November 5, 2015. Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course”.
Dancehall artiste Stonebowy Wins Bet Award
Ghanaian dancehall and reggae artiste, Stonebowy, born Livingstone Este Sateka, got in the news in Ghana and around the globe in 2015, when he beat Nigerian top artistes, Wizkid, Yemi Alade and the likes to win the Best African International Artiste category at this year, BET Awards held in the United States of America. But July 29, will forever remain a black day for the BHIM Nation boss and a close friend to Nigerian top dancehall artiste, Patoranking, because while he was away to receive his award, the musician got news that his mother, Mrs. Catherine Satekla passed away on Wednesday, July 29, at the Military Hospital in Accra after she had been hospitalized for four days. It became a mix feeling for Stonebowy and his team as they were excited for winning one of the most prestigious awards and yet had to mourn the death of his mother, who he once described as the greatest source of support for him in his career.
Presidential Press Corps involved in fatal road accident
It was tragic news when a commercial bus conveying the press corps members of President John Mahama had an accident while returning from a function with the President. The guys left for Accra to file their reports which in the process claimed the life of one of the reporters. According to witness, the Ford bus somersaulted after one of its tyres burst and eventually landed on the deceased who was flung out of the bus when it was somersaulting. The media was thrown into mourning because they believed they lost one of their colleagues, a reporter of the Ghanaian Times Newspaper, due to the fact that the accident could have been avoided if a member of the presidential staff had not engaged their official bus that originally took them to the venue of the event opting to rent a commercial bus for them when they had to return and file in their stories for the day. The late Samuel Nuamah, who was given a heroic burial by the government was survived by his wife, a child, mother and other family members.
Bollie and Reggie of The UK X-Factor Fame Place Second
Ghanaians both home and abroad were pretty much excited and hopeful that the duo of Bollie and Reggie were definitely going to emerge winners of the UK X-factor reality TV series because they were able to please the founder of the programme, Simon Cowel. While the competition lasted, Ghanaians all over the world stayed glued to their TV sets to watch, support, cheer and vote the duo of Reggie and Bollie who are of Ghanaian descent to the top of one of the world’s biggest music platforms, including the President of Ghana, who commended their talent and effort in the competition. He also implored Ghanaians to vote massively for the duo so as to make the nation proud. But their expectations were cut short when they lost the converted prize to 17 year old Louisa Johnson who emerged winner at the finals. Though the duo of Reggie and Bollie said they will be ungrateful if they are not happy with what they got, because they never believed they could get that far in the competition. They said they can’t wait to start work with their new record label, Sony Music and also go on the X-Factor tour of 22 cities starting from February to March in 2016. Some of their fans, however, believe that they were cheated from emerging the winners because they had all it takes from stage performance to massive followership across the globe, adding that Simon Cowel and his team took advantage of their fame and left them in the competition to revive the nose diving popular reality TV show which they felt was already losing its vibes before this year’s edition was staged.
Asamoah Gyan accused of rape by undergraduate
It was a case of love gone sour for Ghana Black Star captain, Asamoah Gyan when a university student, Sarah Kwabla publicly declared that she was raped by the controversial ace footballer and threatened to release the sex tape if he refused to own up for his action, especially when it was discovered she was pregnant from the sexcapade. The court after investigations by the police, declared the footballer free from all the allegations leveled against him by the 22 year old undergraduate. Her lawyer had requested that a paternity test be carried out to confirm if he is indeed the father of the unborn child she is expecting.
Miss Adaeze Onyinyechi Ayoka’s alledged rape saga
On April 15, 2015, the management of Yfm Radio Station in Accra declared that one of their staff, Miss Ada had been abducted and gang raped by some unknown men based on the pictures that surfaced online from the scene of the incident by the alleged kidnappers. The story, however, took a new twist when the police after conducting their investigations revealed during a press briefing that the rape was instigated by the victim herself in order to spite her ex-boyfriend whom she was having problems with. After the arrest of two suspects they confessed that the rape story was all staged by the radio presenter who parades herself as a Nigerian. It was discovered by the police that she is actually a Ghanaian, but lied to her employer that she is from Nigeria. During the press briefing, it was also revealed that Miss Ada actually suffers from bipolar disorder which led to the whole rape mess.
Chairman of leading opposition party (NPP) dies of acid attack
Politicking went wrong in Ghana when the murder of the Chairman of National Patriotic Party (NNP), Adams Mahama was announced. The sad event occurred when the deceased was returning home in the night and was attacked by unkonwn men who poured acid on him. He later died of excessive burn in the morning. His death caused a lot of uproar by the public, expressing their fear on how unsafe Ghana is becoming due to the thirst for power by desperate politicians. And till date, no one has been prosecuted for his death. Two members of the party identified as Gregory Afoko and Mensah Issah have been declared suspects of the attack. They were arrested and have since been remanded in police custody, with no conclusive evidence to prove they were indeed the murderers of the party chairman. However, while the public were still left to ponder on the credibility of the party in leading the country if they vote them into power, another murder case occurred when a member of the same party identified as Abubaka Saddiq was murdered in cold blood while he and several angry party members threatened to beat up the constituency chairman for supporting their suspended National Chairman, Paul Afoko due to the internal wrangling going on among the party’s top officials and stakeholders. Many see the wrangling as a threat to the party’s chances of winning the next presidential election against the incumbent President, John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Party (NDC).
Ghanaian reggae artiste, Rocky Dawunli gets Grammy Nomination
It’s definitely a good year for Ghanaian artistes musically as evidenced in the various awards they won both in Africa and beyond, talk of AFRIMA, BET, etc, and the nomination of one of Ghana’s biggest reggae musicians, Rockey Dawunli at the GRAMMYS in the Best Reggae album category which consists of heavyweights of modern reggae artistes like; Morgan Heritage, Luciano Jah Cure and Barrington Lexy. Although the news of his nomination came at the close of the year, it has since been the major entertainment headline news trending on social platforms and in the media as well. He’s the first non-Jamaican to be nominated in that category for his latest album Branches of the same tree.
