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When the multi-award-winning Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie received a fake ‘UN Kofi Annan Award of Excellence’, he immediately took to social media to brag about it.
During the same time he was presented with the ‘UN Award’ at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, the young musician Kuame Eugene had toppled him for the coveted ‘Best Artist of the Year Award’ at the Vodafone Ghana Music Award ( VGMA).
Sarkodie lost the top music award and the biggest bragging in Ghana, but was rewarded with a “UN Award” and when he shared the success story with his fans, he ended up putting the spotlight on the organizer of the Global Blueprint Excellence award. Award. , a “Dr.” Kwame Owusu Fordjour – a man who has described himself in many quarters as the United Nations Global Ambassador.
The rapper is not the first person to receive the ‘UN Humanitarian and Excellence Awards’. Other distinguished personalities, including the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu and the Second Vice President of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, were honored by the organizer this year. The administrator of Ghana’s leading institution of higher education received the ‘Global Public Excellence Companion Award’ for his leadership and vision of humanity.
The other awardees were the Ashanti regional president of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), President Wontumi, Berla Mundi of TV3, the host of the morning show Angel FM, Captain Smart, the daughters of Jesús Glorioso, the musician D-Black. , Natalie Fort from TV3 and DJ Black from Joy FM, among others. A total of 21 people received the award.
Some Ghanaians have been quick to label the awards scheme a scam, but others have praised the organizer for its intelligence. I bet those Ghanaians who have struggled with the awards scheme would not have done so had it not been linked to the United Nations (UN) and the foundation of the late UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.
Kwame Fordjour is reported to have said that the Global Blueprint Excellence Award is organized in collaboration with the United Nations and the Kofi Annan Foundation, a claim that has been disputed by the UN office in Ghana.
But let me tell you that it is never wrong to create an award scheme to recognize the extraordinary and heroic works of people. No law is broken by doing that. This is done all over the world. Awards in any form are a highly visible indicator of recognition. They shape recipients’ incentives to stay true to their chosen career and strive for excellence.
In Ghana here, there are many reward schemes that started from an unknown position to a known place. Today, some of these schemes are recognized as prestigious platforms due to the hard work of the organizers. In no way am I suggesting that the organizer of the Global Blueprint Excellence Award is not a working man. Far from there.
In fact, Kwame Fordjour is one of the hardworking people I have heard and read about in 2020 because of the ease with which he brought together the big shots of society. Perhaps her main sin, which everyone was quick to point out, was the immediate recognition that she tried to dress up her awards scheme by claiming she was working with the UN and the Kofi Annan Foundation.
In a Facebook post shared on his barely four-month-old page ‘Global Public Excellence’ on August 30, 2020, he claimed that he had been appointed by the then UN Secretary-General to spearhead the awards scheme in Africa. He wrote that:
“As part of the comprehensive global interactions, intergovernmental investigations and reports of the Globe in each region of the world led by the Group of Ambassador Dr. Kwame Fordjour, the former Secretary General institutionalized Global Public Excellence to award (annually) World Excellence in which Amb. Dr. Fordjour was honored to hold the presidency in Africa, which needed global excellence in practice and exemplary leadership. ”
But the United Nations in Ghana issued a disclaimer saying they have no affiliation with “Dr. UN ”nor with the Global Blueprint Excellence Awards in any shape or form. In a strong statement issued on Sunday, the world body said that “all genuine UN notices follow strict rules and procedures and are posted / posted on UN websites.”
If he hadn’t sweetened his award and said all those things that are repeated today in the media, Sarkodie, for example, would not have abandoned the so-called prestigious Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2020 for the Global Blueprint Excellence Award.
If there is ever a lesson that this episode serves us well, it is that we are all vulnerable at some point: rich and poor, strong and weak, politicians and musicians, bosses and speakers, etc.
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The author, A. Kwabena Brakopowers, is a development communications practitioner, journalist, essayist, and novelist whose work focuses on development communication, politics, gender, migration, and international relations.
Could be contacted at [email protected]
