Shatta Wale, Kwame Eugene, others performed for free at virtual concert – Ursula Owusu

Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has dispelled notions that the government paid huge sums of money to artistes who performed at the maiden virtual concert.

The virtual concert was held after the Vice President launched an app, which is yet to be operational, to help the government gather data of all citizens during the pandemic.

But according to Ursula Owusu, the government is not in a position at this point in time to dole out such huge amounts to artistes for such a show.

Her team, she said, with the support of Bola Ray, CEO of GHOne TV, contacted a few artistes who bought into the idea and willingly got colleagues in the industry onboard.

READ ALSO: One Man Soldier: Watch Shatta Wale’s Full Performance At Virtual Covid-19 Concert

Artistes such as Shatta Wale, Kwame Eugene, Fancy Gadam among others graced the occasion and put up what has been generally described as impressive performances before a virtual audience.

The Communications Minister disclosed, “I can do it, and I will talk to this friend and those who worked behind the scenes, Bola and others also helped to put them together. I can say that they are not being paid for their services, we couldn’t afford it.”

She lamented the expenditure of government has been disoriented due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country and interventions implemented to mitigate the impact on households and businesses.

This made it, in her opinion, practically impossible for government to pay the artistes for their work at the launch of the COVID-19 tracker.

“In these days of austerity, government is spending a lot of money trying to contain this virus. Trying to keep body and soul together. Our economy and all our projections are down…everything all our budget is wack now because of what is happening,” she added.

The COVID-19 tracker, when downloaded, will demand data such as travel history, symptoms of persons who are sick, among others, to make data conveniently available for health professionals.

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