Join Us Celebrate Black Excellence in 2007 - Aliu Urges Shaggy

Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama Vice President Aliu Mahama on Monday urged Shaggy, the Grammy and World Music Award Star, to encourage Africans in the Diaspora to join Ghana in 2007 to celebrate her 50th Independence Anniversary, which would be dedicated to honouring 'Black Excellence.' The Vice President made the call when the international Star, who recently performed two successful shows in Accra with his entourage, called on him at the Castle, Osu.

Vice President Mahama said Ghana was determined to establish herself as the "Homeland" for Africans in the Diaspora, and the 2007 event, which would coincide with 200 years of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, was a good opportunity for Africans outside Ghana to visit and establish links with their roots.

Ghana, he said, was safe and secure for doing business and that Shaggy's successful trip had accentuated that image and he should, therefore, sell Ghana to his compatriots.

Vice President Mahama praised Shaggy for the sterling concerts in Accra and urged him to continue singing positive lyrics that would promote world peace and world understanding.

"I now identify strongly with the Pan Africanist cause and you could portray that feeling in your songs. You are a musician with a positive message and since you have a great appeal to the youth, I encourage you to inspire them to cherish peace and promote global understanding." He commended Spacefon, which facilitated the trip, for its good corporate citizenship and sensitivity to social responsibility. Shaggy praised his Ghanaian fans for their great enthusiasm, saying; "I had tremendous concerts."

He said: "I have been pursuing my musical career for about 12 to 15 years and the enthusiasm I have seen in Ghana is one of the highest. "At the Accra Sports Stadium concert, there were technical hitches that led to power outages about four times and the audience had the patience to wait each time for its return. Elsewhere, when the electricity goes off once the audience goes with it."

He said although he had just a few days in Ghana, he enjoyed the trip because he was accorded a warm reception and that he looked forward to returning.

"I met Sister Rita Marley and she encouraged me to buy property in Ghana because she had done so and she was very happy."

The 35 year-old international star, whose real name is Orville Richard Burrell, left his native Jamaica at the age of 18 to live with his mother in Brooklyn, New York.

The reggae/ R&B/ Rap star has 10 albums to his credit. He won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, with 'Boombastic,' which also topped the charts in other parts of the globe.