Eddy Kenzo unhappy with MAMAs outcome

The star was among five nominees in the category, which included Nigeria’s Flavour, Ghanaian Stonebwoy and South African acts Cassper Nyovest and Mafikizolo. Nyovest walked away with the honours last Saturday at the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg. Kenzo later took to his Facebook page to express his displeasure.

"I have performed in over 35 countries 10 of them full stadium what else? They told us to vote and my fans did. Go on all @mtvbaseafrica platforms click on #Bestliveact and see the winner for yourself I'm not being jealous here, but I do complain because they told us to vote and the fans decide," the lengthy post read in part. The artist feels that he lost to Nyovest on other grounds and is convinced that he should have been the winner. 

A spokeswoman for the event said the Best Live Act and other key voting categories were 100 percent chosen by MTV viewers and music fans. "The votes were compiled from a number of different sources, including www.mtvbase.com, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Basing the result on the voting hashtag alone gives an inaccurate picture of who won. Collating the votes from all sources confirms that Cassper Nyovest is the rightful winner," said Alison Reid, Africa Director of Communications for Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN).

Fellow Ugandan artist Bebe Cool took his defeat in the Listeners Choice category in his stride. "I thank the people who are supportive of hardworking Ugandans. I have displayed strength, capability and talent, sacrificed and helped to build others despite the negative forces and am still going to do so," said Bebe, who has been nominated for a MAMA twice without winning. "This is the third year Uganda gets nominated in the MTV awards and it's my second time. Many countries and individuals don't get this recognition despite their hard work but we do," Bebe's post partly read. He went on to thank the award organizers for creating the platform.

With artists from Nigeria and South Africa having dominated the awards, fans have also continued to voice their criticism of the voting process. However, Reid says that the process is fair and accurate and there is no reason to change this strategy in future awards.