Ghanaian highlife legend, George Jahraa, has advised musicians who want to endorse political parties to think twice over the decision.
According to him, it will go a long way to tag them as part of the political party – a gesture he learnt his lesson from decades ago.
Speaking in an interview with Mike 2 on Adom FM’s Entertainment Hall show, the Ashikele hitmaker said life under ex-President Jerry John Rawlings became hell for him after he endorsed the opposition.
“Every musician is a Ghanaian and the constitution proves that everyone has the constitutional right to support a political party… Somewhere along the line, I joined a party and with what I went through after endorsing them, it wasn’t easy. I was in my Grandfather’s house in Kwadaso… and they invited me to play for them, no one wanted to play for them in 1992… Since then, every song I did was not to be aired and there was only one TV station at that time… I stayed home until Kufour came to power before my songs came out.”
The music veteran explained that, his endorsement crippled his music deals and shows until the repercussions got to him.
“If not that, I would have been on the international scene. I was all over Africa… my producer tried so well, but it didn’t happen… the one I tried to put out, it went for only 2 months… it was later I got to know that the show I played was punishing me…
Talking about politics in Ghana, George Jahraa said, “It’s winner takes all thing… I saw Busia, Acheampong, Akufo and I saw Rawlings 1, Limann and Rawlings 2… and that is how the power has been changing hands. Anyone in power can fight you, a musician… I was praying for the man to leave power… so if you are a musician, and you are entering into that, you should know the country you are in,” he cautioned.