‘We won’t be bullied’ – Ekandjo

Tim Ekandjo, MTC’s chief human capital and corporate affairs officer, has lashed out at local artists saying that the organisers of the Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) will not be bullied.
Following the wide-spread criticism the awards received from the music industry as well as fans, Ekandjo said that the NAMA executive will not bend their rules to suit anybody.
Speaking at the pre-main awards press conference this week, Ekandjo said that some artists and music labels have decided to take advantage of the situation in order to advance their own personal interest.
He said that “from the side of the NAMAs, we have a clear message to those artists, we will never allow you to bully the NAMAs for your own personal interest and that, if you wish to be the judge of your own music, then maybe the NAMA’s is not the platform for you.”
Ekandjo said that the music, is and will be, judged by an independent panel of judges and that they respect the judges decision as it is final.
He continued to say that the artists who have chosen to walk away from the NAMAs have only made them stronger as they have shown that they will not bend their rules and regulations to suit anyone. “Our rules will be applied consistently to all artist, irrespective of the music label and how big or small you are,” Ekandjo said.
Furthermore, he encouraged artists not to enter the NAMAs if they cannot respect decisions made by the judges on their songs and that the songs are not judged by how popular the song is on the radio but by judges.