After a long absence from the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA), one would have expected that Shatta Wale’s reinstatement into the awards would come with a performance on the night of the main event.

However, the list of artistes performing at the 2018 VGMAs does not include him.

Artistes billed for the awards ceremony are Sarkodie, Joe Mettle, MzVee, Samini, Efya, Praye, Akosua Agyapong, Kwasi Arthur, Kidi, Adina, Kuami Eugene, Fancy Gadam, King Promise and Kelvyn Boy.

Others are Tiwa Savage from Nigeria and Nasty C from South Africa.

When asked why Zylofon Media artistes including Shatta Wale were not billed to perform, Head of Communications for Charter House, organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, George Quaye told Radio Univers’ Zionfelix in an interview that the artistes that have been billed are equally good.

“We have not blacklisted any artiste. We have several big and respectable musicians who are also not on the bill so the Zylofon Media artistes missing on the bill is not intentional on the side of the organisers to sideline them. We made sure all genres are fully represented and Samini on the bill is representing Reggae/dancehall category,” he said.

“There will be many VGMAs in the coming years. Shatta Wale is back to the awards and who knows, he might be the headline artiste for next year’s event. We don’t have any problem as organisers of the event maybe Zylofon Media would have something else to say if you call them,” he added.

However, according to reports, Charter House did not hire the services of Shatta Wale to perform at the programme because Zylofon Media had charged them Ghc 200, 000 as performance fee.

According to our reliable source, the organisers felt that the fee was too high for a performance on the night of the award scheme.

This year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards is slated for 14th April, 2018 at the Accra International Conference Centre.