TGMA organisers struggle to find venue
Ghana’s most prestigious music awards ceremony is facing an uncomfortable backstage crisis weeks before the curtain is due to rise, with organisers yet to secure a venue for the Telecel Ghana Music Awards scheduled for May 9, 2026.
Robert Klah, Head of Public Events and Communications at Charterhouse, made the admission publicly this week during an appearance on Hitz FM’s Daybreak Hitz, telling hosts Kwame Dadzie and Doreen Avio that while preparations for the ceremony are largely on track, one critical piece of the puzzle remains missing.
“The only thing left now is the venue,” he said.
The root of the problem lies at the Grand Arena, the iconic dome on the Accra International Conference Centre premises that has served as the home of the TGMA for years and which Charterhouse itself built and manages. The arena, currently Ghana’s largest indoor event space with a capacity of approximately 4,000, is now effectively off the table after the landowners signalled they want the premises back.
“Unfortunately, the Grand Arena is not available. What I know is that the owners of the land would like to have their place so we don’t have access to it, so we have to look for another venue,” Klah explained.
The timing is particularly awkward. President John Dramani Mahama has announced a major renovation project at the Accra International Conference Centre, while the National Theatre, another potential alternative, is similarly earmarked for refurbishment. That effectively leaves the Palms Convention Centre at Labadi as the next realistic option, but at a capacity of roughly 2,500, it falls significantly short of what an event of TGMA’s scale typically demands.
Klah has sought to reassure fans and patrons that Charterhouse will find a way to deliver a quality experience regardless of where the event is ultimately held. But voices from within the creative industry are less sanguine about the situation, with some calling it a damning reflection of Ghana’s chronic shortage of large-scale event infrastructure.
Artiste manager Edem Mensah Tsotorme urged Charterhouse to take the matter directly to the highest levels of government without delay.
“We do not have an event space that can take the number of TGMA now so I wish from now to maybe the end of next week you go to the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture with the Board,” he said.
Ernest Adu Kumi, host of Asempa Showbiz, was even more blunt in his assessment, framing the situation as a national embarrassment that should provoke genuine outrage.
“I think we have been talking about this but we are not angry enough as a people. Why should it be that a big event like TGMA, some few weeks to the event, be struggling for venue? This is absurd. It is unacceptable,” he said.
With May 9 fast approaching and no confirmed venue in sight, the clock is ticking loudly for Charterhouse, and for a country whose creative industry has long outgrown the infrastructure available to host it.
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