The question many are asking is, how did they end up being nominated in the ultimate category when they have not been nominated in any of the songs categories?

Showbiz contacted the Chairman of the board of the VGMA, Nii Ayittey Hammond who didn’t mince words in explaining the situation.

According to him, to be in the Artiste of the Year category, a nominee is supposed to have released a popular song in the year under review, “both MzVee and Joe Mettle had songs in the year under review but there is always a cutoff point in coming out with the categories.

“If your song is not as strong as the others in the category, you will not make it to the category but that does not stop you from being nominated in the Artiste of the Year category and that is why those two have been nominated in that category”, he said.

Apart from MzVee and Joe Mettle, other contenders for the Artiste of the Year are Sarkodie, Medikal, EL and Stonebwoy.

MzVee has also been nominated in the Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year while Joe Mettle has also been nominted in the Gospel Artiste of the Year category.

Gospel artiste Nacee has a total of 10 nominations while EL and Medikal have seven nominations each. This year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards comes off on April 8 at the Accra International Conference Centre.