Wutah Demands $60,000 From Glo…. Threatens Court Action!

Even though Hiplife duo Wutah (Fire) made up of Daniel Morris (Wutah Kobby) and Frank Osei (Wutah Virus) have gone their separate ways musically, they have reunited to demand an amount of $60,000 and more, from new comer telecommunication network in Ghana, ‘Globacom’.

The group who were signed on as Glo Ambassadors with sixteen others in 2009, claim the green and white branded company has only paid them for one year, out of the three year annual renewable contract.

Speaking on Peace FM’s “Entertainment Review”, one half of the group i.e. Wutah Virus aka P. V. (now known as Afriyie) disclosed that Globacom Limited has refused to fulfill its part of a three year contract they signed with them as brand ambassadors.

“We signed a contract with them for a period of three years which was renewable every year, and it took effect from 1st April 2009 till date. They paid for the first one year which was between 1st April 2009 and 1st April 2010 but as we speak now, from 2010 to 2011 no money has been paid to Wutah as a group”, he stated.

Afriyie said, per the contract, Glo had the first right of refusal so at the tail end of the second year, getting into the third year, they (Wutah) had information by word of mouth by a source from Glo, that they (Glo) have information that they had split as a group, and that they didn’t sign the contract with individuals but they did so with the group. For that reason, Glo is disengaging them as a group and they no more qualify to be ambassadors of Glo.

Afriyie stressed that Wutah as a group does not have any problem with the fact that they have been disengaged because of the split, but all they are demanding is to be paid for the period they have worked as Glo Ambassadors while they were still together as Wutah. He explained that their separation did not affect the contract in the second year, because as at the second year 2010, they were still together, recalling that they won two awards in that particular year, 2010 Ghana Music Awards.

He lamented that the most painful part of the story was that the contract forbids them from performing on any platform or any events sponsored by competitive companies, “In Ghana the only way we get to make money is from the shows we play. So if a contract forbids you from performing on shows sponsored by any competitor, it tells you how much we lost within that one year period in the name of an amount that would be paid you for one year”.

The singer also stated that they hadn’t received any official letter from Glo stating that they have disengaged them. “Just as they gave us an official letter engaging us, there should be an official letter stating that they have disengaged us from this period to that period and the reason but we haven’t seen any like that”.

Asked if they have made any official complaint to Glo as to why they have not been paid for their second year and if indeed they have disengaged them, Wutah Virus said “We have been there many times, even last week my colleague was there more than two times and any time we go there, it is the same song they sing to us that, they will get back to us, and it’s been back and forth like that for over one year now, and we are still where we were last year”.

He said they had several meetings with Glo Executives from Nigeria and they promised to pay them any money they (Glo) owed them, but nothing came out of it.

Asked exactly how much Glo owed them, Virus said according to the contract, Glo was supposed to pay them $60,000 every year for three years making it $180,000 for the full contract period. But now they have been fully paid for one first and they were supposedly disengaged in the third year so Glo still has an outstanding $60,000 to pay them for the second year.

Asked what action they were going to take to get their money paid, he said they will still try all amicable means possible to settle this with Glo, but if all their attempts proved futile and they couldn’t wait any more, they would have no option than to take legal action again the company.

Meanwhile, the other member of the group, Wutah Kobby who also spoke on the program, said when they raised the issue of whether it is true that the company has disengaged them because of their split as it is being speculated in town, some Glo Executives stated in one of their meetings with them that “ it is not the reason why they are disengaging us, but they have sat down to think that Glo had still not started operating in Ghana yet, so they want to cut down the number of ambassadors, and after doing their own research they have realized that Wutah is the people they want cut out”.

He intimated that, Glo agreed to pay the outstanding $60,000 and calculate the extra months after the second year and also pay them, if they use any of their images or voices in any of their commercials in the future. “But if all of this is still outstanding and nobody from Glo is actually sitting us down to tell us the reason why this is delaying and why none of us is getting any proper feedback, then I think it is not right”.

However, several attempts by Peacefmonline.com to get an official response from Glo have not yielded results, as officials have refused to comment. But at the time of filing this story, a source hinted Peacefmonline.com that Officials of Glo are yet to meet over the issue, to decide on the way forward.

Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana