The gold-plated statuettes meant to be given to the winners of the third edition of the Ghana Movie Awards which were impounded by the immigration officials at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (as organizers claim) has arrived in Ghana safely.
According to the organizers, the seizure prevented the organizers of the annual awards from presenting to each award winner their trophy in the awards which took place on Christmas Day; December 25, 2012 at the Conference Centre in Accra.
In a short ceremony to announce the arrival of the trophies at rLG head office in Accra on Friday, Mr. David Dontoh, President of the awards apologized for the delay in giving the winners their statuettes due to the unfortunate incidence.
According to reports after the December awards, the trophies were sent back to India for the names of each of the winners and the categories to be embossed on them. When the statuettes were being flown back to Ghana, immigration officials in Dubai suspected some of the gold-plated statuettes were made of pure gold quality gold and also detected an error with the labeling of the package.
They were impounded for further investigations after which they were flown back to the country of origin for the necessary and appropriate documentation.
According to Mr. Dontoh, the CEO of the awards, “Fred Nuamah had to fly to India to help with investigations and then fly the trophies back to Ghana after the necessary documentation.”
Out of many winners of the 2012 Awards, only Funny Face, Rahim Banda, and Afia Schwarzenegger, winners of Best Actor in a TV series, Best Actor In A Supporting Role English Language and Best Actress in a TV series respectively were present to receive their awards.
The delay in receiving their awards might have infuriated some of the winners who didn’t show up for their presentation even though invitations were extended to them.
Mr Prince Tsegah, General Manager at Gollywood Productions Limited, organizers of the awards promised that each of the winners will receive their awards soon.
Nollywood producer cum director Andy Boyor received statuettes for his compatriots, Alex Usifo, Patience Ozorkwor, Desmond Elliot & Caroline Danjuma who won the following awards; Best Actor African Collaboration from the movie ‘Off The Hook’, Best Actress African Collaboration with ‘Untamed’ and Best Picture African Collaboration from the movie ‘In The Cupboard’.
He also received the award for veteran Olu Jacobs who picked the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the Nollywood and African Film Industry.
