AratheJay
The management and communications team of rising Ghanaian artiste, AratheJay, has formally reached out to the Board and Academy of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) for clarification regarding the omission of three nominated submissions from the shortlists of the 27th edition of the awards, unveiled on March 14, 2026.
In a letter addressed to Charterhouse Ghana, the organiser of the TGMA, AratheJay’s team highlighted discrepancies between the documented performance of his debut album, ‘The Odyssey’, and the award definitions published by TGMA.
They are specifically seeking an explanation for the exclusion of ‘The Odyssey’ from the Album/EP of the Year category, ‘Put Am on God’ from Best Rap Performance, and ‘Cover Me’ from Best Male Vocal Performance.
All three entries were submitted through TGMA’s official nomination process. Despite these omissions, AratheJay has received three nominations for this year’s awards: Best Music Video for ‘Put Am on God’, directed by David Duncan; Best Reggae/Dancehall Song for ‘Talisman’, featuring Stonebwoy; and Best Hiplife Song as a featured artiste on Ko-Jo Cue’s ‘Tontonte’.
The management team expressed their gratitude for these nominations but insisted that clarity is needed regarding the categories in which they believe their submissions meet the eligibility and excellence criteria outlined by TGMA.
“We are proud of what AratheJay has accomplished, especially with ‘The Odyssey’ in 2025. The numbers supporting his success are available on public platforms, independent of us. The eligibility criteria are set by TGMA and can be found on their website. We are simply asking the Board to clarify how they reconciled these details in creating the nomination list,” the statement read.
The team emphasised that their request was not made from a place of entitlement but rather as a reasonable appeal for transparency, which benefits the entire industry.