The Ghana Export-Import (Exim) Bank is teasing the release of a song by its brand ambassador Shatta Wale.
The song titled I AM MADE IN GHANA drops on Friday, September 18, 2020, and is expected to be rolled out under the Exim Bank’s which ‘Made-In-Ghana 4P’ campaign.
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The aim of the campaign is to encourage Ghanaians to support products made in Ghana and to make local industries competitive. It focuses on four thematic areas namely; produce, promote, purchase and prosper.
As part of the campaign and in tandem with GEXIM’s support for the Creative Industry, the Bank has contracted brand ambassadors and influencers including Shatta to promote the campaign.
In a post on its official Facebook page, the bank posted;
The relationship between Shatta and Exim Bank came to light recently at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament when Kumbungu MP Ras Mubarak raised concerns over a GH₵2million payment to Shatta Wale (known privately as Charles Nii Armah Mensah).
The MP said it was not prudent for Exim Bank to pay such an amount to an artiste to promote products made in Ghana.
He said: “I mentioned GHS2 million that went to Shatta Wale but the Deputy CEO says they wouldn’t know who the vendor selected. And this is not to say that we have a problem with Shatta Wale getting some amount of money to do whatever work. But the Ghanaian public deserves to know how much went out and who got it because their answers were not satisfying.”
In response to the query, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Kwame Adu-Darkwa, said the bank had contracted a media consultancy outfit to deal with the matter.
He insisted that the dancehall musician was not paid directly by the Exim Bank.
“You will be surprised how brand ambassadors can be good for promoting a particular sector. Sometimes what needs to be done is that if you have done incredible work, it will be good for people to know what their options are, and having a good brand ambassador to do that makes sense.”
On his part, the Chairman of the Committee, James Klutse Avedzi said the Committee will soon invite officials from the bank to provide details of the said payments to the dancehall artiste and other brand ambassadors.
The bank subsequently confirmed the existence of one-year brand ambassador contracts with actor Agya Koo and Shatta Wale.
The Head of Corporate Affairs of the Bank, Mr Richard Osei Anane later insisted that he was not liberty to disclose the worth of the contracts which was widely reported to have cost a combined GH₵2.25million because of a non-disclosure agreement.
