Can the nomination system change Kili?

Seasons come and go, that is a fact as one man would fondly put it and besides there isn’t much we can do about such natural processes.

 And so, the Kili Music Awards season is upon us again and from the look of things it is going to be quite a contest given the fact that the past one year was abundant with hits.

 Organisers have set the date for the final ceremony on May 5 and they have already hit the ground running putting the necessary preparations.

Unlike last year when fans had to wait until April or there about for the nominations to begin this time around it has come much earlier.

It was a year when fans were spoilt for choice even when some artistes ended up sounding like the other.

As documented by those in the know, it is so far the most successful and consistent awards in the East and Central African region, given the failures and wrangles that have befallen contests such as PAM and Kisima awards in Uganda and Kenya respectively.

And after years of rumbling and dissatisfaction by a certain group of artistes and some sections of fans on how the nomination process is handled the organisers have decided to shake things up.

Dogged with multiple withdrawals of nominees just after the academy has made its judgment on who they feel fared well in the last season the sponsors and the National Arts Council have taken a shift.

Artistes such as TID and Dully Sykes withdrew their participation from the contest sighting favouritism despite organisers maintaining that the voting is an affair that is usually steered by an independent body.

In what they have called taking the awards back to the people, viewers will now take the overall mandate of nominating their favourite artistes in this year’s edition which has been spread out over 34 categories.

Speaking at the launch last week the Kilimanjaro brand manager George Kavishe said the changes were part of improving the awards to reach the required international standards.

Kavishe said they were also working with various music stakeholders in the country to improve the state of affairs.

“The changes this year are part of improvements as we aim to elevate the awards to an international level,” he said at the launch.  That is the promise from the horse’s mouth and the hype is on with several radio and TV stations already promoting not only the annual gala but also the new format.

Artistes for their part have hit the social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in the hunt for the votes.

But as the arts council (Basata) and sponsors Kilimanjaro aim towards an improved awards season by taking the contest to the fans, pundits say the new chosen system too has its limitations.

In fact, some believe that this will even make the job of the final panel that is set to sift through the bulk of the nominations even harder.

“One has to look at the type of people who vote at such contests, most of them are young and barely understand these categories therefore this has become a very tricky process,” says one pundit who preferred anonymity.

However, Kavishe and co are confident that it is through this system that they will get the best as opposed to the previous procedure.

Kavishe says that the academy will only come in at the final stages to verify whether the songs and artistes selected fall in the right category and  specified period.

“It is at this point where we shall have to convene the academy and their main duty will be to verify whether the entries made by fans are the correct ones  and the fall within the 2013 period,” he said.

Optimism is high from both sides as the awards were floated to the public, however, the same old pet-peeve could come back to haunt the awards especially as far as the academy is concerned and the type of voters.

“In the past many people have complained of the composition of the academy members they have accused of favouritism and now that they have not been eliminated completely it could still become a point of concern,” says one DJ at a famous radio station.

He adds that even the voting system has always been a problem given the fact that most people who vote are young and can hardly afford the platforms that have been chosen.

“Unless you say that this is an affair for urban population only because if the intention is to take these awards to the people then organizers have to find a way to involve the regional populations,” he adds.

Others say that despite the radio promotions, other mediums such as road shows would help to sensitize potential voters on the need to vote.

“As we all know we are very poor at voting and that is why we always lose at international contests,” says Cosmas Massawe a pub owner in Sinza.

But as Massawe vouches for the need for other platforms to increase public participation, last year’s record suggest otherwise with tens of thousands of votes voting after the nominations were made. According to figures available at Innovex, voting via SMS went up tremendously in 2013 as compared to 2012. In 2012 the number of votes cast via SMS were 28,264 whereas in 2013 the number almost tripled to 63,277 votes. This was however  not the case when it came to votes cast via web and email; in 2012 figures show that 74,350 votes were cast via web where  the figures plummeted in 2012 to 2941.

This was the same case with voting with email which remains very unpopular  amongst the voters with 1876 votes cast in 2012 compared to 2019 cast in 2013.

Now as the awards embark on a new journey it remains an interesting prospect how the voters will respond to this new call in reshaping the contest.