I was okay with ‘papa’ memento because it’s made in Ghana- Fred Nuamah

Founder of Ghana Movie Awards (GMA), Fred Nuamah, has revealed that he had no issues with the 'papa'(fan) mementos given to winners at the awards ceremony which took place at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on Saturday, January 18. 

According to him, the initiative was a novelty to promote Made in Ghana products, considering that they previously imported the mementos from countries such as China, India and other countries.

Speaking on Joy FMs Showbiz A-Z on Saturday, Fred Nuamah, however, disclosed that he has no intention of repeating that following the negative publicity and feedback after the event. 

"Normally we go to China, India and other places for our mementos. So if my team is saying they want to come out with something locally [made], of course [I needed to comply]. Now, also let me say something here. 

“You know you can't challenge artists. What they see, we don't see it. For example, if you go and check on Mona Lisa, that small photograph, I am sure the cost of that photograph will not even be up to 400 dollars when they want to sell it about billions of cedis. 

“So when it comes to artists, they can pick anything and do anything with it, and tell you that this thing is 3,000 dollars.

“Personally, I was okay with it, because it was made in Ghana, so I was okay, until people started complaining about it. I went back to the team and told them if you are giving something to people and they seem not to like it, it's okay. They are golden so maybe they want something golden,” he stated.

Since its inception, the Ghana Movie Awards appears to have been a centre of controversy and bad publicity, particularly with its poor organisation.

This year, however, their “papa” (fan) mementos were the subject of conversations after the awards ceremony in January. 

The fan mementos have a wooden base with inscriptions and a painting of Ghana's red-gold-green and the black star, on the fan.

Fred Nuamah explained that the fans were awarded to winners of categories that fell under a different award scheme called Ghana TV Series Awards, although the two awards were held together.

“I do know that it is Ghana Movie Awards and Ghana TV Series Awards. It is the Ghana Movie Awards that we have the trademark with the gold-plated mementos. When it comes to Ghana TV Series Awards, because we don't have the trademark, we started with the golden mementos, we went somewhere else and they tried this one [the fans] as well so those who had the fan aka the papa, they are the Ghana TV Series Awards. 

“So Ghana Movie Awards did not present papa but the two events were held at the same place," he said.

He mentioned that despite the backlash, he thinks the artists behind the concept had a valid rationale.