Ghana stripped of AFRIMAs hosting rights

The AFRIMAs said that after a disappointing edition in November 2018, the necessary conditions to retain the hosting rights had not been met and the organisation had opted to relocate the event to another African country.

The AFRIMAs, in partnership with the African Union (AU), awarded Ghana the rights to host the even for three years after the country's President Nana Akufo-Addo had committed to support the platform in May 2018. But it seems that the Ghanaian government has not kept up its end of the bargain.

AFRIMA international advisor Rikki Stein said the platform could not take a chance to hold the awards in a country that did not provide the necessary support to execute the event successfully.

“Our concerns are genuine and the signals were worrying," Stein, who was Fela Kuti's manager, said. "We must see a serious commitment from the host government to secure suitable venues in advance for holding the AFRIMA ceremony and events, to provide appropriate hotel accommodation and process visas. If these are not in place, then we have a recipe for disaster on our hands.

"It was a hard decision for us to withdraw the hosting rights for the next two years from the Republic of Ghana. As an award for African people, it is meant to travel around the continent, giving people a true pan-African experience."

Before going to Ghana, the AFRIMAs were held in Lagos, Nigeria, between 2014 and 2017, and Stein said the local government had done well to support the organisers.

"The support of the Ministry of Information and Culture and sponsorship from the government of Lagos State as AFRIMAs' official host city in 2016 and 2017 also fostered the smooth execution of the various AFRIMA events and facilitated the seamless engagement of corporate sponsorship and partnerships at various stages of event planning and execution,” he said.

The AFRIMAs said a new host country would be announced soon.