The organizers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) have responded to concerns regarding the omission of King Paluta’s hit song Makoma from this year’s Popular Song of the Year nominations.
Following concerns raised about the omission of King Paluta’s song ‘Makoma’ from the Popular Song of the Year nominations in the 26th Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA), the organizers have responded.
The TGMA Board in a statement, clarified that the song’s exclusion was due to a long-standing rule limiting artists to a single nomination per category, with only a few exceptions.
“The only categories where multiple nominations are permitted are Best Collaboration, Best International Collaboration, and Best Music Video, as these involve multiple contributors,” the statement explained.
The TGMA Board further elaborated that when an artist has multiple songs eligible for a category that allows only one entry, the selection is made based on data-driven criteria, including streaming numbers and radio airplay.
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In King Paluta’s case, both Aseda and Makoma were strong contenders in the Popular Song of the Year category. Following a thorough evaluation of streaming figures and radio airplay data from 175 stations nationwide, Aseda emerged as the more dominant track. Consequently, it secured nominations in both Highlife Song of the Year and Most Popular Song of the Year.
The TGMA Board emphasized that this rule also serves to prevent vote splitting, ensuring an artist’s chances of winning aren’t diluted across multiple songs in the same category.
The Board further acknowledged that, in previous years, exceptions to this rule had been made, allowing multiple nominations for some artists. However, the current policy enforces a strict adherence to the one-song-per-category rule.
A few weeks ago, King Paluta’s management petitioned the Board over this omission.
