National Sports Authority reacts to Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy stadium booking saga
According to Prof. Peter Twumasi, Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), neither Stonebwoy nor Shatta Wale have reserved the Accra Sports Stadium for a performance as of yet, according to an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb.
He claims that although both artists are still working on signing the deal to utilize the stadium for a concert, the question of who would receive the contract has not yet been resolved.
His remarks follow Shatta Wale’s assertion that he was informed Stonebwoy will perform this year and that he would have to do his event next year as a result of the conflicting dates for the same location.
Prof. Peter Twumasi, who spoke exclusively to GhanaWeb on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, debunked Shatta Wale’s assertions and reaffirmed that the National Sports Authority has not yet signed a contract with any of the performers for a performance to be staged at the Accra Sports Stadium.
“If the sports authority is helping them and they are creating problems for me? The two of them, none of them has a contract with us [Natioanal Sports Authority]. We are just helping to support their industry. We are yet to sign a contract, so don’t bother too much. For now, they are going through the process of getting the contract with the NSA, it’s not even done yet,” he said.
“If you write a letter and request for a space then we will look at it and see whether we can offer you or not but we don’t have authority over what we can offer and what we cannot. We are thinking that stadium is a multi-purpose in use and over the years we have been accommodating them [artistes] bit by bit so it shouldn’t create any controversies unless they are just using it to promote their shows,” he told GhanaWeb.
Background
In expressing his fury over a supposed decision by the National Sports Authority to allow Stonebwoy to host a show at the Accra Sports Stadium on a date he (Shatta Wale) is also scheduled to hold an event at the same venue, the Dancehall musician indicated that the action was taken without a critical analysis of the possible consequence which includes violence.
A 40-minute Facebook live video on Tuesday which captured his fury as he narrated his side of the story saw the Shatta Movement boss chastising the authorities for acting inappropriately.
Shatta Wale and Medikal had previously announced plans for their annual Freedom Wave Festival, scheduled to run from December 20 to 25.
The festival’s activities, as outlined in a flyer released on September 7, 2023, included the arrival of regional fan bases on December 20, an exhibition of SM merchandise on the 21st, a pre-concert featuring new artists on the 22nd, industry prayers on the 23rd, artist dress rehearsals on the 24th, and the climax of the festival on the 25th.
However, Stonebwoy on September 16 also released the flyer for his Bhim Concert to be held at the Accra Sports Stadium on 22nd December.
This stoked conversation with many people wondering how both artistes would have their respective events at the same venue on the same day.
On Tuesday, Shatta Wale accused President Akufo-Addo’s daughter of orchestrating this situation. He insulted colleague Stonebwoy with some unprintable words and jabbed the president’s daughter for acting “foolishly”.
