I blame filmmakers for Fred Nuamah’s shambolic movie awards – Eddie Nartey

Ghana Movie Awards organizer Fred Nuamah has exhibited profound unseriousness with the organization of the scheme since its inception in 2010 because filmmakers have failed to hold him accountable, Eddie Nartey has observed.

In the midst of concerns that the scheme has been characterized by poor management, lack of transparency, lack of credibility and lackluster organization of the main event, the filmmaker who was adjudged Best Writer at last year’s edition in an interview with Delay said Mr. Nuamah would sit up if his colleagues boycott the event.

“I’ve not received my plaque yet,” he said and wondered, “Will they even give them to us?”

“I think you should be given your plaque when you win. But the narrative is different here. It is not funny. I blame the people who go and sit there and be part of it. If the organizer organizes and nobody attends, he will think, won’t he? It’s a partnership so it has to suit us, it has to be beneficial to us,” he stated.

“If Ghana Movie Awards has been held for nine years and at this time, I still don’t have my plaque, it doesn’t even speak well of the awards scheme. I don’t blame the organisers so much; I blame we the actors that are also not making the demand for us to be treated well,” Mr. Nartey emphasized.

The 2019 Ghana Movie Awards was marred by a number of incidents with the topmost being the sound technician’s decision to ‘kill’ the sound just as the MC for the event came on stage due to a debt owed him by the organisers.

Like several shows organized in the country, the event commenced late – more than 4 hours behind schedule – and muddying the waters for the organisers was the technician’s insistence that he is paid some arrears amounting to GH¢1,500 before he provides sound for the occasion.



About three years ago, entertainment journalist Arnold-Asamoah-Baidoo scripted an epistle, detailing why the event has been shambolic while suggesting some remedies.

Among other things, he indicated that “For an awards scheme as big as the Ghana Movie Awards, it is mortifying to have its CEO, Fred Nuamah, run the organisation as a one-man business. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, the Finance & Administration Head, Communications Head and an errand boy.

“He sets his own rules and regulations for the awards or culls them from some other scheme without paying attention to the terrain. He sets his own eligibility year for the awards or none at all, and he speaks for the awards on all platforms – choosing which platform to speak on and deciding on what questions to answer and what to ignore.

“Since taking over from the GAMA Films-organised ‘Ghana Film Awards’, which was properly done, observers and critics have tagged the Ghana Movie Awards as a business venture; where its CEO uses the brand to simply make money from stakeholders and sponsors.”

Throwing some shots at actors, producers, and film directors, he argued that they should be blamed for the embarrassment caused the movie sector.

“These guys are a bunch of hypocrites, who yelp only when they are not at the receiving end. Clearly, almost all the major players within the industry know, that things are implicitly awry with the Awards, but they choose to keep mute and perpetuate such ‘atrocity’” he wrote.

“These actors are privy to the jumbled organization of the awards, but they never mind; they are only interested in donning fine dresses (mostly borrowed) and tuxedos to the main event, fake smiles on the red carpet and mount the podium to collect awards. Shameful!”