The management of fast-rising Ghanaian artist AratheJay has formally petitioned the Board of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA), seeking clarity over the exclusion of key nominations tied to his debut album The Odyssey.

In a letter addressed to Charterhouse Ghana, organisers of the awards scheme, the team raised concerns about what they describe as inconsistencies in the nomination process for the 27th edition, announced on March 14, 2026.

According to the statement, The Odyssey—which reportedly topped Apple Music Ghana charts in October 2025 and later entered Spotify’s Top 10 most-streamed albums in Ghana for the year—was submitted for several major categories.

These include “Album/EP of the Year,” “Put Am on God” for “Best Rap Performance,” and “Cover Me” for “Best Male Vocal Performance.”

However, despite meeting what the team believes are the scheme’s published criteria, the project and its songs were omitted from those categories.

Interestingly, AratheJay still secured three nominations on the night: “Best Music Video” for Put Am on God, “Best Reggae/Dancehall Song” for Talisman featuring Stonebwoy, and “Best Highlife Song” for One-Jo Cue’s Tontonte, on which he is featured.

The management clarified that their concerns are limited to categories where official submissions were made and where they believe the work qualified based on TGMA guidelines.

“We are proud of what AratheJay has achieved, especially with The Odyssey in 2025,” the statement read.

“The data supporting its success is publicly available. We are not questioning the scheme itself, but we believe it is reasonable to ask for transparency in how nominations were determined.”

They further emphasised that their appeal is not driven by entitlement but by a desire for fairness and openness within the industry.