Local artistes have found themselves in an uncomfortable position after organisers of two separate awards have fallen short of honouring their promises several months after they scooped the accolades. It has emerged that winners of the revamped Salax Awards, who won’the accolades in March this year, are yet to be given their prizes, as organisers claim that they are working on meeting their promises. In the same light, it has also emerged that winners of the gospel music awards Groove Awards Rwanda 2018, are also yet to get their prizes in what turns out to be an embarrassing verdict on organisers of showbiz awards in Rwanda. Some of the artistes, who spoke toThe New Times said they have since not received any communication regarding payments for their cash prizes, not until they contacted to inquire about the matter. “I have not got the money yet and I have no idea what happened, maybe they [organisers] will pay us when they get it. It does not sound good however, whenever something is delayed and their do not communicate accordingly let’s hope they are trying to find solutions to make the next editions perfect,” revealed one of the winners who requested anonymity. “No one told me what happened, only those who contacted them were given explanation, but no one from the organising team called me to tell me the progress about the payments. I just heard from other award winners who followed up on the matter that we were getting the money soon. We know that sometimes delays exist but their communication was far from good,” he added. Ahmed Paicifique, the CEO of AHUPA, explained to this paper that the payments have been taking too long to proceed because sponsors had to analyze the report on how the awards went down but promised that they will get their money in month. “They will get the money this June. It was just an issue of payment processes that delayed the report. We communicated to the awards winners and we are still updating them on the progress of the payment,” he said. He added that the payments are in the hands of sponsors and urged artistes to be patient, promising to do better next time. “I can assure them that the next awards will be better. I am thinking of two options either way; one is to stop giving them cash but instead award the winners with other prizes. These could help them in their music production at designated recording studios or any other alternative. This is because, when it comes to cash prizes artistes tend to think that we are giving some amount we made out of them, which is totally not true,” he said. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
