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.

In a statement signed by the Writer & Producer, Chief Moomen, he wishes to assure all those who were feverishly looking forward to the show that it will be back in July.

“We wish to thank Key Soap, our key sponsor who have supported us to bring you these amazing productions over the past two years. We hope to entice more sponsors to support our work so we can take it on our tour across the country and to some cities around the world,” he stated.

He added that they are passionate about their vision to package and present the history of Ghanaian heritage in exciting ways to engage younger audiences, elevate the consciousness and confidence of Ghanaians and Africans with the power of shared experiences, and help promote our country to the rest of the world.

Wogbejeke is noted for its wonderful theatrical performances by using drama, music and poetry to tell the history of Ghana.
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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post April edition of Wogbejeke cancelled appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking at the meeting, Chief Moomen, writer and producer of the series, said his team has been working hard over the past two years to package and present Ghanaian history in an exciting manner in order to engage audiences.

The former President was full of praise for the team for the important work they were doing.

He was optimistic that they could help foster reconciliation between various political factions that still harbour some hostility from the independence era.

He promised to support the production with some resources and to come see the next production.

Following a successful run  over the independence weekend, WogbeJeke: Our Journey, which is an exciting reconstruction of Ghana’s history through drama, music, dance and poetry is set to stage at the National Theatre on the 15^th and 16^th of April, 2017.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kufuor Foundation to support Wogbejeke appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.