Ghanaian Afro-pop singer, dancer and songwriter, Noella Wiyalaa, has stated that the annual Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) organised by Charterhouse, only rewards and promotes works of artists who are based in the Greater Accra regional capital, Accra.

Wiyaala, who was speaking in a recent interview on “The North” Podcast with Prince Hamdan Banang, made known that the popular music awards scheme had spelt out a criteria for the selection of nominees which she thinks she doesn’t qualify for, and so has stopped filing nominations.

She emphasized that the criteria involved having one’s songs played on all radio stations in the capital, which is not possible for her because of her choice of language.

“In my heart, I believe VGMA is trying to get all of us involved. But let’s not tickle and make a fool of ourselves, it’s very obvious and glaring what VGMA is all about. You have to be in Accra and your songs have to be popular in Accra,” she explained.

Per her observation, there are songs that were never popular in the North, but made it on there and the criteria keeps changing.

“It’s their rules and regulations if you cannot follow them, you shouldn’t enter” she said.

The ‘Tuma’ hitmaker stated that deliberate efforts to highlight acts from other regions whose songs are not widely known due to language barriers have not been made.

A situation she explained contradicts the definition of the VGMA as an award scheme to honour musicians in Ghana because it only focuses on specific groups of musicians in certain regions of the country.

“I will be as popular as anything in the North but because it’s an Accra-based programme and most of the radio stations are Accra-based, it is normal that they only hear Accra songs. Most of the DJs don’t understand our songs and a lot of people are not willing to understand our songs,” she added.