If the international status we confer onto our artists is not well defined, we shall continue to delude ourselves that we are ‘there’ but in actuality, we shall remain ‘local champions’ till thy kingdom come.

Irrespective of whichever dictionary you believe in or check  your words from, the basic meaning of one saying something or someone is international in our infotainment industry means that that thing is known worldwide.

Male actor Prince David Osei was casted for a film produced by a Hollywood film maker and was subsequently invited to USA to grace the red carpet for the premier of the movie – ‘The Dead.’ Stories had it in Ghana that Prince David Osei has gone international.

Deborah Vanessa, after releasing the song Uncle Obama, was interviewed on CNN to share the rationale behind the song. Quickly, news had it that she has gone international. Sarkodie, after getting nomination for BET awards and subsequently emerging victorious, was said to have gone international. What kind of international is this?

I’m very sure if the BET award organizers hear us saying Sarkodie is now an international artist simply because he came for an award behind their stage, they will convulse with laugh teasingly at Ghana. All my correspondents in East and North Africa tell me they have never heard the name Sarkodie before, not to talk of having listened to his songs.

Analyzing this international illusion carefully, all it smacks of is stark absurdity! This is because some of the people who grace those western platforms are not even known in all the ten regions of Ghana or in the 52 countries in Africa talkless of the whole world.

A local champion Ghanaian artiste visits CNN or BBC or any western platform for a day and we confer international status on him/her. So if a promising artist in another continent comes to Ghana and he or she is interviewed on GBC or Joy 99.7FM, has that artist also gone international?

For instance, a 13 year old hip pop musician by name Young Dapper from USA is currently plying his musical profession in Ghana. Has he gone international? Indeed, the meaning of international in Ghanaian showbiz industry rest on funny assumptions!

Stretching the full dimension of this international fallacy, I guess it’s a Ghanaian ‘thing.’ A one- man-pastor who has no branch or network with any pastor in even Togo establishes a church in Ghana and he adds…….so so and so‘International Church.’

A private man establishes a school in Accra without any branch in even Kumasi but he adds…… so so and so ‘International School. ’Personally, I refuse to join this international illusion choir because it’s very cloddish to my intellect. I don’t know about you. Until then…..MOTWUM!!