The manager of Kwabena Kwabena, Nana Poku Ashis, has reacted to Mark Okraku-Mantey’s claim that the Highlife artiste became bigger after he endorsed the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In a recent interview with Joy FM, Okraku-Mantey, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, mentioned how some creatives have benefited from political affiliations.
He mentioned Kwabena Kwabena as an example, asserting that he attained greater feats after he endorsed President Akufo-Addo and the NPP.
But Ashis has disagreed with Mr Mantey’s assertion.
“He was victimised in a lot of circumstances. Some of his fans who are from the opposition side got angry with him for, you know, using his platform or his image to campaign for the NPP. So some people also felt a bit disappointed in him for doing that. And his Facebook comments, his social media comments, there were a lot of backlash, insults, and all that. Some people said that they were not going to go to his show again, his numbers started reducing and all that,” he told GhanaWeb’s Isaac Dadzie in an interview.
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Kwabena Kwabena’s manager indicated that his artiste did not get support from the party after they won power.
“He thought that ‘my beloved party has come to power, I could make a few phone calls and then see how I could get help,’ which also all fell on deaf ears. He didn’t get any help from them. He had to struggle.
“Why are you trying to take credit for something you didn’t do? You didn’t create anything for him. You didn’t give him any money, you didn’t pay anything for him. So if he has become bigger, you can’t say he became bigger because he endorsed the NPP. He became bigger when you didn’t actually contribute to that. He rather got backlash after endorsing NPP. He had to work his way up. So Mark’s statement is vague,” he stated.
Ashis, however, clarified that Kwabena did not endorse Nana Addo because of money but it was out of genuine support.
“He wasn’t paid for anything. He wasn’t paid. He went in with love because he loved the candidate, Akufo Addo. Lessons learnt. Fair enough. So now, from here on, everything else will be business,” he emphasized.
