Guns and Roses, Puns and Poses., the national market square was yet again thrown into a state of gossipy as the new topic of an old-rivalry-turned-bitter resurfaced for opinions. As usual, the “Big Men” with their big grammars are wrestling for the microphones, the lawyers with their long gowns are reaching for their dusty wigs and the all-knowing elites are quick enough two open the national-black-book, to quote sentences of no significance to back their perspectives.

But I, a teenager with overgrown teeth, seem to also have a different opinion. It does appear that the Ghanaian is always bent on playing Saint to the world when one of his own toes away from the line. The Ghanaian doesn’t mind damaging beyond redemption, the reputation of another once he knowingly or unknowing offers himself upon the public opinion alter, and the “experts” would rise up from their seeming slumbers to chastise, condemn, malign, vilify, spit on and play the blame game until checkmate.

I do not, and would never endorse gun violence, or social disorder. Incidents are like dark clouds, they have silver linings, but when we stare too long at the dark parts of the clouds, the silver linings fade away and history would only keep it that a dark cloud ever hung around us.

What happened at the VGMAs was shameful, but that wouldn’t go down as the most shameful incident in the Guinness Book of Records for the year 2019. In competitions around the world, losers cry, losers protest, losers wail, I have even seen losers collapse, go unconscious because of how much work they put into the competition and how higher their expectations are. The keener the competition, the tenser the atmosphere is, and the more unpredictable the result would be when the winners are finally announced. And this is where Charter House got it all wrong.

In keenly contested competitions, rivalry begins to brew. In this case, however, the rivalry has always existed and was now at fermentation stages, CharterHouse did not have to be told that when the wine is highly fermented, the drinkers get drunk and the bar is likely to be turned into a boxing ring; hence the emotional barometers should have given off red flags already. They only needed to be alert, put in restraining and cautionary measures prior to the announcements. But they were busy counting their proceeds and left the rest of the event on autopilot.

The Undesirable happened! Yes, It Happened! Did we like it? NO! Was that the end of the world? Absolutely not! But this is Ghana, where we believe in discussing the event rather than stepping in to change the narrative.

Uncle Kwame Sefa, you had a golden opportunity when you came back on stage but you allowed it to slide whilst you went emotional, singing “This is shameful, we have disgraced ourselves enough”. Shatta Wale & Stonebwouy would not have refused an invite upstage had you invited the two to walk up the stage and stand right next to you without their militant gangs. With Shatta on your left and Stone on your right, you could have told the world that this is how keenly contested DanceHall as a Genre is in Ghana and that Jamaica Should Watch Us Take Over Their Music. And make a simple joke out of it. The narrative would have changed, the tension would have calmed down, you could have easily collected the gun, the two could have even embraced right there! The longer we blame, the deeper the damage and the nastier the scars that would remain.

Now, that is gone, what’s the solution? The Sakora Concert! I do not believe that talent should be sent to jail. More so that the crime was not one that resulted in the loss of life or property.

As a redemption of their images and a plea for mercy from Ghanaians the following would be my proposed solution.

1. Both Stonebwouy and Shatta Wale should be shaved down to the scalp, like is done to newborn babies. With Obour carrying the Bible and Samini carrying the Holy Water for the baptism. The egos that drove them nuts should be shaved away with their locked hair.

2. The two would record a three-song EP (album) titled the “Sakora Album”. The sakora album would be made of songs based on the following concepts; “Say No to Gun Violence”, “ Tolerance”, and “Here Comes the New Kings”.

3. The two shall be required to single-handedly organise the Sakora Concert in the Southern, Middle and Northern Belts of the country to preach against gun violence, mockery and conflict. The proceeds from these concerts would be donated to any charity project of their choosing.

The Sakora concert could have been the headline performance for the next VGMAs, but with the emotional CharterHouse unnecessarily pressing panic buttons here and there, whose inefficiencies caused this incident in the first place, well that leg of the custodial punishment could be reserved for another day’s discussion.

The goal should be to make neither of them look bad in the eyes of the world, but rather to offer a quick change to the narrative in a way the world would envy our crisis management capabilities.

Credit:Abdul-Moomin Shahabdeen🙏

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