According to Chief Moomen, the acceptance of ‘Black Panther’ is an indication that people are tired of negative stories about the black race and he believes his ‘Mansa Musa’ play which also seeks to tell the African story in a positive light, will be loved.

“If there is any evidence that my ‘Mansa Musa’ production will triumph, then let us just take a look at the ‘Black Panther’ phenomenon. People are tired of the stories of poverty and disease and squalor about Africa and Africans which forms the dominant narratives in the media,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Chief who recently made a call on the Chief Executive Officer of Zylofon Media, Nana Appiah Mensah to help him fund the ‘Mansa Musa’ play, also reiterated that financial support from people with the wherewithal would make his dream come true.

“Please let it reach the Despites of this world that instead of spending 2 million dollars to buy another land at East Legon or Cantonments to build another luxurious apartment which the ordinary Ghanaian cannot afford, and which will probably have few or no occupants, they should give that money to Chief Moomen who would immediately create employment for some 500+ young people, and together they would create a magical product which will be hotter than This Way ( Dier mehia ne 2 million).”

The producer of the epic ‘Wogbejeke’ play further stated that he will be disappointed if because of lack of resources to stage Mansa Musa, a foreigner picks the story and gives it back to Ghanaians to watch.

“Marvel invested hundreds of millions of dollars to make Black Panther what it is. What will ‘pain’ me that most is that we will all be here and some white man will come and do Mansa Musa story and we will all rush to see it and he will cash in big time and Chief Moomen will still be here crying for support. Tofiakwa!,” he added.

Read Chief Moomen’s post below:

If there is any evidence that my Mansa Musa production will triumph, then let us just take a look at the ‘Black Panther’ phenomenon. People are tired of the stories of poverty and disease and squalor about Africa and Africans which forms the dominant narratives in the media. We want to see more empowering and edifying stories that can elevate black consciousness and inspire hope. A Mansa Musa story, about the wealthiest man to have ever lived, of a great African civilization, will feed into this new narrative of an Africa and a black race that can and will triumph. My vision for the production is that it will not just be about Mansa Musa alone; he is only the bait. It will be a glorious celebration of African heritage. We need to seriously begin to capture our young minds and inspire their thinking. We need to start creating a new African civilization.

When I first put up a post about my long cherished dream to do a Mansa Musa story, I was pleasantly surprised with the overwhelming number of people who shared in the vision and reacted positively towards it. I’m sure if some of you had the means, you would immediately invest. I have since been doing a lot of work to flesh out the proposal and I have also started reaching out to some influential people. After careful calculations, our budget for this epic stands at 2 million dollars, with a plan to generate a revenue of 25 million dollars in two years ( I will share some general details of what we need the money for and how we intend to generate that much revenue in a subsequent post)

Please let it reach the Despites of this world that instead of spending 2 million dollars to buy another land at East Legon or Cantonments to build another luxurious apartment which the ordinary Ghanaian cannot afford, and which will probably have few or no occupants, they should give that money to Chief Moomen who would immediately create employment for some 500+ young people, and together they would create a magical product which will be hotter than This Way ( Dier mehia ne 2 million)

Someone tell the Bola Rays of this world that, with all their influence and connections, they should help Chief Moomen raise 2 million dollars , and in two years, he can generate more revenue with his work than all the components of the EIB empire can generate within the same period.

Someone tell the Asamoah Gyans of this world that they should hold on to buying more of their Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and pool their resources together for Chief Moomen to create a product that can bring in enough profit to buy a private jet, if that is the grand aim of their lives.

Someone tell anybody who has the means that instead of over-investing in real estate, imports and exports, pure water business, or any other unimaginative ventures that we Africans like to put our monies in; they should give some of the cash to Chief Moomen, to Bright Simons, to Farida Bedwei, to Tonyi Senayah, to Msimps and many other young, creative and passionate Africans. And let us create empires. Let us open up our economies by investing in new ventures to create more employment. Ain’t we just tired of doing the same old things over and over and over again. Gaddamit!

Please before someone comes to tell me that I shouldn’t be making these sentiments public and should rather try and seek private audiences with such influential people… well, I have been doing that for the past 10 years. In Ghana, people will just look at you and tell you that you are doing well. But hardly anyone is willing to support. So we have to do things a bit more differently. More disruptive. But with focus. Those who get it will get it.

Marvel invested hundreds of millions of dollars to make Black Panther what it is. What will ‘pain’ me that most is that we will all be here and some white man will come and do Mansa Musa story and we will all rush to see it and he will cash in big time and Chief Moomen will still be here crying for support. Tofiakwa!

This year I really mean business. When I say I am a young man in a hurry you think I am joking? 2 million dollars, I receive it! Mansa Musa production, we have started!

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Help make ‘Mansa Musa’ a ‘Black Panther’ – Chief Moomen appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Read his letter below:

 “Dear Mr. Zylofon Media Boss,

So your signing of Shatta Wale is all over the news. Kudos for putting money into the industry. I’ve always advocated for the wealthy in our society to invest their monies back in the country and become great patrons of the arts; that is how we build civilizations.

Obviously, you are not afraid to spend. And on the arts for the matter. So, let me sell you a vision that could be one of the most impactful things you’ll ever do.

Give me 5 million cedis( Just a little over 1 million dollars). And let me create some magic that could, potentially, be the game-changer in Ghana’s arts and tourism industry.

I want to create the biggest theatre production in the world, about the richest man to have ever lived on this earth, Mansa Musa the legendary King of ancient Mali Empire. This would be an extravagant, exciting and absolutely spectacular theatrical outdooring.

Here is the catch- you are spending millions to build an ultra-modern theatre, so we hear. How about spend a fraction of that to produce amazing content for the place. How do you intend to unveil your new magnificent building? With another unimaginative show where some performers come to jump and mime on stage? We’ve seen that before. Oya, pass. Let’s do something different.

Now imagine this: Opening Night. High profile audience with local and international media. The curtain gently rises to a powerful yet soothing melody from a 200 member choir supported by a 100 member orchestra of both traditional and international instruments. Imagine 50 people in a synchronised beating of the fontomfrom or brekete. Imagine 100 dancers with their surgically choreographed moves. Imagine our actors and extras all playing their parts powerfully. Imagine the rousing narration and poetry holding all the stories together. Imagine the elaborate set, the colourful and mesmerizing costumes and props, the lights and sound effects. Ahhhhh! Wouldn’t this be something else; 500 performers on one stage telling the epic story of a great African King. It is like the feeling you get when watching ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Lord of the Rings’. Something more daring and more spectacular than ‘The Lion King’, which has been staging for decades and has made millions of dollars.

Of course this won’t be for charity. It’s a business! Let the Mansa Musa Epic be the highlight performance of the theatre with an annual calendar. Target 1,000,000 audiences in Ghana and around the world over a period, with 100ghc standard ticket. That is, potentially, 100 million cedis in revenue for a 5 million cedis initial investment. Trust me, with the right marketing and hype, people will travel around the country, the continent and the world to come see this. But we must give them a reason to come. And it has to be big and bold and absolutely worth their time and effort.

This could be so impactful in many ways;
• Direct employment for 500 people with several thousands in the value chain
• Boost to tourism industry with many coming to see the play. And once they are here, they will also explore the country. This could be great evidence of the power of the arts to Government and can finally push them to make great investments in the area
• Several millions in revenue. Others have done it and so can we
• Not to talk of the importance of such a production in reinvigorating African pride and confidence. If you know what I mean
• All for possibly less than the entire value of the Shatta Wale’s deal. I say it is a risk worth it.

I’m obsessed with this vision. It will be done. Just a matter of time. Maybe sooner if those with deep pockets can see what I see. I have done so much, with so little. I could do so much more, with a little more!”

Zylofon Media Company Limited is a limited liability company duly registered and incorporated in Ghana by the company’s Act of 1963 (ACT 179).

They are a multimedia entertainment company established to supply profitable, acceptable, audio and visual entertainment to diverse domestic and international consumers.

Apart from its music activities, it also has a movie making wing among other creative arts sects.

Recently, the company launched a $1 million fund for creative artists and a digital platform for creative people to monitise their creative works.

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.cm/Ghana

The post Give me GHS5m to stage a play on Mansa Musa – Chief Moomen to Zylofon Boss appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In the documentary, Wogbejeke producer mentions American poet Maya Angelou as the one who inspired him to start poetry and all the other art forms he is engaged in at present.

He also pays tribute to satirist Kwaku Sintim Misa who also exposed him to the theatre space.

Chief further touches on the need to make the creative arts more functional so as to help in national development.

Moomen is currently a teaching assistant at the Theatre Arts Department of the University of Ghana.

Watch the documentary below:

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Chief Moomen talks arts on CNN’s ‘African Voices’ [Video] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, Chairman of the Committee, Ken Amankwah said Mr. Moomen was even lucky to have received half payment for the concert because his budget was not approved.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nw3WZgr5SgGHD05157QPTXFSrWGf88xv”]“Every event organizer that we have had to do something for us we have to have him or her to sign a contract with us. Moomen never came to sign a contract. Now he is going round saying that we owe him, we don’t owe him anything because we never promised to pay him the amount he demanded.”

“Left with me alone he wouldn’t receive a penny or pesewa from the committee,” he added.

Chief Moomen had claimed that all efforts to retrieve the remaining GHc100, 000 he charged the Ghana@60 committee for the concert have proved futile despite several persistence.

But Mr. Amankwah who earlier said Chief Moomen’s budget was too high added that his committee had no formal agreement with the playwright.

He said the event sub-committee chairman, Lord Commey, who gave Chief Moomen the part payment was even sacked after they realized what he did.

“That was out of order. I don’t know was he [Moomen] told him [Lord Commey] and he was paid this amount. I told you I reprimanded him [Commey] because he had no right to pay this amount to Chief Moomen.”

Mr. Amankwa he also disclosed that the Wogbe Jeke team was sponsored by Key Soap hence there was no need charging the Ghana@60 Committee that huge amount for the concert.

“Chief Moomen was being sponsored by Key Soap so what he needed from us was a mere top up. If you are receiving sponsorship from somewhere, they pay all your budgetary allocation. So if you come to us, it’s just a top up. So if a corporate body asks you to submit account for them and you can’t bring that account then you start making excuses that because somebody didn’t pay you that’s why you couldn’t carry the programme. That is a very bad characterization,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Chief Moomen who earlier told Citi News he had a verbal agreement with the committee vowed to run to the court to have his money paid.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We don’t owe Chief Moomen anything – GH@60 Chairman appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Chief Moomen had complained that he has only been paid GHc100, 000 out of the GHc200, 000 he charged the committee.

But the Chairman of the Committee, Ken Amankwah said he had no formal agreement with the playwright.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Kv1UR48UfF4IJ2YbhHOVdS8c0FWiuXnP”]“For me the most curious thing was his claim that we don’t have a contract. On what basis was Wogbejeke advertised? It was in the newspapers, radio, over 500 invited guests came to the conference centre to watch the performance and we were given half of our money before the programme. So on what basis were we engaged if there was absolutely no contract,” Chief Moomen stated.

“So far as I am concerned, we had a verbal agreement, we presented them with an invoice, and we even presented them with a receipt for our first tranche of payment. It was their responsibility to give us as well as other performers or any other service providers a contract. So far as it wasn’t forth coming, we didn’t pursue it further because our concentration was on the activity,” he added.

There’s been a sour relationship between the playwright and the Chairman of the Committee with Chief Moomen lamenting that several efforts to retrieve the rest of his money had proved futile.

But Mr. Amankwah in a statement described the amount charged by the Wogbejeke crew as ‘whooping’ and added that Chief Moomen was even “lucky” to have received half payment.

Speaking to Citi News, Chief Moomen insisted that he provided receipts and invoices covering their cost and expenses to the committee and thus will use every legitimate means to retrieve the remaining GHc100, 000.

“He [Chairman of Ghana@60 committee] sounded as if they were chasing us to come and sign a contract and we were being elusive and that is absolutely not true. We engaged with the committee several times, there was so much happening at that time, I don’t know whether because of the numerous activities and the short period they had to organize it, I’m don’t think anybody who did anything for the committee around that independence period was given a formal written contract to which they signed, I stand to be corrected.”

“I was even sympathetic for them and I said maybe it was because of the overwhelming activities that they had to engage in that is why they couldn’t do things as correctly as they were supposed to do but that shouldn’t be our question to answer, so the burden shouldn’t be on us to provide the contract, it should actually should be on them. We were being treated like they were doing us a favour and for me that’s the most frustrating things. Remember it’s been four months. When I went to see the chairman he was a bit condescending and patronizing. So far as we are concerned we did the project, our bill is 200,000 and we are still left with 100,000 and we would explore whatever legitimate ways to get the rest of our money,” Chief Moomen added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post I had verbal agreement with Ghana@60 c’ttee – Chief Moomen appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Days after Chief Moomen claimed that the committee had refused to pay him the remaining amount he charged for the Wogbejeke performance in March, 2017, Mr. Amankwah responded that the committee had no official contract him and further described the fee charged as “whooping.”

Mr. Amankwah said Chief Moomen was even “lucky” to have received GHc100,000 from the committee.

[contextly_sidebar id=”jHJeCmp9iePvsxxff2Dh8mjFjrz1fOJv”]”What he failed to mention was his whopping budget of GHC3,355,000.00 that he delivered to the Committee. Admittedly, the budget was inclusive of Regional and International tours but even so, the local one night show of GHC213, 210 at the Banquet Hall in Accra was excessive! And this was a budget the Committee had to look at and take a decision bearing in mind our own limited outlay of GHC20 million for the entire year long celebrations. Chief Moomem was a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details in his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract. This was against the Committee’s well laid down procedures of agreed terms of engagement for all entertainment events,” the statement added.

But Chief Moomen in a counter statement challenged Mr. Amankwah’s claims.

“‘He [Committee Chairman] claims, ‘Chief Moomen is a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details of his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract.’ That is quite a curious claim. So on what basis was WogbeJeke advertised on radio, television, newspapers and social media as part of the official programme for the anniversary? On what basis were invitations sent out to people, including the Vice-President and Council of State, to come to the Conference Center on Friday 3rd March, 2017 at 6pm to watch the production? On what basis was the first 100,000ghc given to me for the programme? Yes I was not given a written contract, and I believe that no service provider for the anniversary celebrations was given one either. I , however, presented an invoice of 200,000ghc and a receipt covering the receipt of the first 100,000ghc,” added Chief Moomen.

Below is the full statement from Chief Moomen:

“Now that the Chairman of the committee has issued a response to my entreaties, I am now at liberty to put out the facts of the case. And I shall respond to his claims in greater detail.

1. He Claims our 213,000ghc budget to stage a WogbeJeke is whopping and excessive (The agreed amount was actually 200,000ghc) .

By whose standards? We produced a 2hr 30mins production with a cast and crew of 170 people. This was inclusive of all related production and technical costs- remunerations, rehearsals, sound, lights, set, props etc. The only thing we were given is the venue (which is actually the Conference Center and not the Banquet Hall as he claims). Our remunerations budget alone was over 100,000ghc ( eg. @ an average of 500ghc*150 people= 75,000. @ 2000ghc to 5000ghc to directors of various units of the production= 35,000. Our technical costs averaging 20,000ghc and other costs like rehearsals, refreshment, transportation, props, costumes, etc averaging 20,000ghc. I will usually have to spend about 150 to 160,000ghc on every production period.

So 200,00ghc charge for WogbeJeke is in no way excessive. Sir did you know Umoja charges 50,000 dollars for a performance of about 30 people and you still have to pay for all their technical costs. If I’m even to pay my cast and crew what they reasonably deserve for all the work they put into this, 300,000ghc will be my rate.

2.He claims, “Chief Moomen is a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details of his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract.”

That is quite a curious claim. So on what basis was WogbeJeke advertised on radio, television, newspapers and social media as part of the official programme for the anniversary? On what basis were invitations sent out to people, including the Vice-President and Council of State, to come to the Conference Center on Friday 3rd March, 2017 at 6pm to watch the production?

On what basis was the first 100,000ghc given to me for the programme.? Yes I was not given a written contract, and I believe that no service provider for the anniversary celebrations was given one either. I , however, presented an invoice of 200,000ghc and a receipt covering the receipt of the first 100,000ghc.

3.He again claims, “But the moonshine of his presentation was the ruse that he had never been paid.” Now that is plainly not true. In my facebook post and in all my interviews I have always indicated that I was given half of the payment.

4.According to the Chairman, our budget is excessive because ten years ago, my own beloved lecturer Prof Martin Owusu put up plays for the 50th anniversary celebrations and didn’t charge that much. I won’t even bother to respond. It’s like walking into a boutique to buy a shirt and being told that it costs 200ghc only for you to claim that amount is excessive because you came to the shop ten years ago to buy a shirt that costs 20ghc.

5.He claims I was supposed to come for a budget hearing and I never turned up. That is also not true. I have availed myself to every single meeting that was required of me. Even after the performance, I have made several attempts to secure meetings. In fact, I have been to the seat of government these past months more than I have done in my entire life.

6.For the past four months I’ve been following up on this issue in what has been a really frustrating process. I have reached out to many people to intervene on our behalf with no results. My business indeed has been gravely affected. I finished my march shows with an amount of 56,000 to pay out which I have been trying to do. This debt has made it difficult for me to invest in my operations. I canceled my show in April because of the debts and was at the verge of cancelling my July show too. My angst and frustrations are very real sir. I’m in no way out of the woods. You may not care, but please don’t describe my sentiments as “ a contrived tearjerker”.”

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Ghana@60 committee claims ‘curious’ – Chief Moomen appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In two separate Facebook posts last week, Chief Moomen, the producer and writer of the Wogbejeke theatrical performance, had remonstrated his displeasure with the situation and had said all attempts to get the remainder of his money had proven abortive.

According to the poet and playwright, the committee’s indebtedness to him had put him into financial constraint, a reason his April show was called off. However, in a statement signed by the chairman of the committee, Ken Amankwah, the committee went into an agreement with Chief that the fee he charged for their performance was not fait accompli.

Read the full statement by Mr. Ken Amankwah below:

“Moomem Moonshine Chief Moomem, in a contrived tearjerker article on social media, claimed that Ghana 60 Years On Anniversary Committee owed him for his WogbeJeke musical performed sometime in March 2017.

What he failed to mention was his whopping budget of GHC3,355,000.00 that he delivered to the Committee. Admittedly, the budget was inclusive of Regional and International tours but even so, the local one night show of GHC213, 210 at the Banquet Hall in Accra was excessive!

And this was a budget the Committee had to look at and take a decision bearing in mind our own limited outlay of GHC20 million for the entire year long celebrations. Chief Moomem was a young man in a hurry.

Before we could examine the details in his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract.

This was against the Committee’s well laid down procedures of agreed terms of engagement for all entertainment events.

Moomem’s budget and our annotated suggestions are set out in an appendix to this article. But the moonshine of his presentation was the ruse that he had never been paid. Moomen received GHC100,000 in cash from the Chairman of our Events sub-committee as “mobilization” fee.

This was payment done by the Events Sub Committee Chairman without authority and he had since been reprimanded.

The GHC100,000 was half of Moomem’s local one night performance budget at the Banquet Hall of the State House. The Banquet Hall, and its expensive chillers that normally would cost GHC20,000 to hire was given gratis by Ghana 60 Years On Committee.

Chief Moomem called on me at my office in the Flagstaff House to demand final payment for his staged musical sometime in late April this year. Apparently, he had been to see the Events sub Committee Chairman on several occasions without success.

All that I asked him at our meeting was my signed contract with him. He looked vacant and confused. He claimed since the Events Sub Committee Chairman had paid him GHC100,000 mobilisation, he was under the impression the Committee had okayed his budget of GHC213,000. I reminded him of our earlier discussions when he delivered his budget. There was the understanding that his budget was not a fait accompli.

The Committee was entitled to sanitise and prune it down to reasonable amounts. He never came back for the budget hearing. Then some few days ago, I started getting calls from Committee members, friends and family about how one Chief Moomem was traducing Ghana 60Years On Anniversary Committee for collapsing his business empire of one musical! Well, Chief Moomem, you were even lucky to have been paid the GHC100,000.

And you have contributed to the woes of the Events Sub Committee Chairman leading to his early exit from the Committee. During Ghana@50, Prof. Martin Owusu, with the School of Performing Arts in Legon staged twelve classic plays at National Theatre – one play a month for the entire period of the Jubilee Year. His budget was GHCII7,648.

My institutional memory has served me well at Ghana60 Years On Committee. Even with the highest inflationary index I don’t think one musical would cost GHC213,000 now!

Ghana60Years On is not debt-distressed. We have sufficient funds to launch events every month. And that is what we are doing. Witness our nationwide Brassband competition launch at Swedru, our Food Farms for Schools (Fofas)project in partnership with MOFA, our ongoing Jubilee durbars, our international debut in London, our near completion of contract agreement for a giant black American soul maestro to cap the celebrations in March next year, the school quiz competitions, the E Library projects, the 60,000 borehole projects with MTN and so and so on. We are on course and no Moomem calumnies can stop us.

It is rather unfortunate that his cheerleaders at some radio and TV stations were inveigled to carry his story without the hallowed journalistic canons of balance, accuracy and fairness. But we forgive, so let the celebrations continue!”

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By; Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Chief Moomen had no formal contract with us – Ghana@60 C’ttee appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”UpDvIxwJQOTHMstJXclxIc5kENxbOKVT”]According to him, the government is yet to make commitment to paying him his money.

Last week, Chief Moomen took to Facebook to seek public ask the government to pay him the remainder of the money.

He said the government had contracted him to show his ‘Wogbejeke’ theatre as part of activities to mark Ghana’s 60th anniversary celebrations in March, and has since paid only half of the bill. 

According to Chief Moomen, several attempts to get the government to pay the other half of the bill has proven futile, forcing him into a terrible financial situation. He said he has had to put his car on sale to help raise money to sustain his business.

Days after the post, he said the cry for help “fell on deaf ears.”

He, however, said his upcoming play, Wogbejeke, which was almost called off because of government’s indebtedness to him will be held as planned courtesy the support of some friends.

Read his full post below:

Thank you all for helping to highlight our crisis situation. Unfortunately, all that cry for help fell on deaf ears. I didn’t and still haven’t received any official communications from the committee.

What I have, however, heard is the Chairman of the Committee spewing spurious and ill- informed utterances to people that seeks to impugn my integrity.

And that I will absolutely not countenance! I have already suffered enough indignities at his hands. About two months ago when I went to see him about our plight, he was so patronizing and condescending I left very angry, disappointed and truly quite sad.

I shall release a full account of my experience and my general reflections on this whole process right after my show.

Thanks to my #Botweburg brothers for pooling together resources these last minutes to enable WogbeJeke come off. I invite you all to come out in your numbers tomorrow 3rd July at the National Theatre to support the production.

We are running two shows and 2pm and 7pm. Once again, thank you all for the massive show of solidarity.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Chief Moomen decries ‘attack’ from Ghana@60 chair over debt appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The situation has put his upcoming stage production in jeopardy as he has to deal with the huge debt he incurred producing a play at the behest of the government.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bLCLzyVIbT6BHuDYtCQHe4W7QleumkAW”]In an emotional appeal published on Facebook on Thursday, the famed poet lamented that government had contracted him to show his ‘Wogbejeke’ theatre as part of activities to mark Ghana’s 60^th anniversary celebrations in March, and has since paid only half of the bill.

According to Chief Moomen, several attempts to get government to pay the other half of the bill has proven futile, forcing him into a terrible financial situation.

He said he has had to put his car on sale to help raise money to sustain his business.

Although the current situation caused him to postpone the planned production of his wogbejeke in April, he is determined to get the act live on stage next week, and has since taken to Facebook to appeal for support to reach government officials to pay him his arrears.

 Read his post below:

Please if anyone knows any powerful person in government please talk to the person to help me. I put up my Wogbejeke theatre show as part of activities to mark Ghana’s 60th anniversary celebrations in March and I have since been chasing for the other half of my payment.

The debts I incurred from my March shows have had a devastating effect on my small business. This is why we cancelled our show in April because we simply couldn’t afford to stage it with all those debts. The situation hasn’t changed and my much publicised show on 3rd July is in serious jeopardy if I don’t get money this Friday. The painful thing is that, I took a loan from my bank in February to rent a facility to start a business. My debt situation in March made it difficult to further invest and start that business.

Earlier this month, the loan was due and I had to scrape everything to pay it off without having it serve its purpose. This has further compounded my situation. Now I am a couple of days away from a major show at the National Theatre and I don’t have a penny to even refresh my over 150 cast and crew who are currently rehearsing for the show. I used up my sponsorship money from Key Soap( God bless them for the support these past two years) to offset some of the debts. All efforts to appeal to the powers that be to understand how serious my situation is has yielded no results.

These past three months have been the most painful and frustrating moment in my professional career (I shall talk more about that someday). Now I need not less than 30,00ghc to make some urgent down payments to enable WogbeJeke to come off on Monday- ( payments for national theater, lights, sound, set, props, t&t for cast and crew and petty things just to get a show going.

I will think about the other bigger costs like remunerations later) I have even put up my car for sale (again!) but nothing yet. Rather uncharacteristic of me, I’m putting this very personal stuff in public because I’m really desperate now. And I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to disappoint my cast and crew. I don’t want to disappoint my audience. Please help if you can”

Wogbe jeke is a theatre production by Chief Moomen that re-enacts Ghana’s pre-colonial histories to modern day times featuring the stories of kings, queens and legends amidst dance and music.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t debt killing my business – Chief Moomen ‘weeps’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.