[dropcap]A[/dropcap]dmittedly, we all need to prepare for the unknown tomorrow regardless of our today.
However broke you are, insurance is very important. Please, if you don’t have health insurance, go grab yours as soon as possible. One year insurance is equal to Pizza at Pappis or a month’s spending on Surfline Internet Bundle if you don’t watch youtube.
What is the point of this article? Just this week, I saw a video of Shata Wale having fun in a strippers club abroad. In the video, an obviously excited Shata Wale was chilling and dishing out bundles of cash that appeared to be in the dollar denominator to glorify two strippers-G-strings-covered butts.
He appeared elated and on top of the world and didn’t care how much he was dishing out to the core girls all in the name of fun. To add insults to injury, he got it filmed and shared it on social media so that I can also write about it.
The notes may be One Dollar each but it doesn’t take away the fact that seven years agowhen he was struggling to find his feet in Ghana Music and hustling on the streets of Dansoman, anything over 100 Dollars would have passed as food security for about two weeks.
As much as I find it disgusting for a married man with kids and a role model for thousands of people still finding their feet in this life: I wouldn’t focus on themoral aspect of what he did because readers picked on that angle when the video went viral and therefore any addition will only pass as plagiarised. My issue is the money being wasted that won’t come back into his pocket again. How’s this my business? I will come to it three paragraphs away from now
A month ago, Sandra Ankobea indicated that she had a number of shoes that she purchased at over 2000 Dollars. If she is lying, then I concur, I am lying too. Yes, Miss Sandra Ankobea walks in shoes worth more thanGHc 8000.
Yvonne Nelson and other celebrities have boasted about expensive outfits they took to events in the past: outfits they wore only once
Every single day in the news, you are likely to hear one celebrity boasting about his wealth and the expensive life he lives. It is no news now to hear them name the price of their shoes, watches, clothes to let us know how cheap we live
Back to the issue:granted, the expensive lives of celebrities remain no news in this age. What celebrities forget in the midst of their plenty is what pushed me to write this article- the future
Yes, but for the mystery of what lies in tomorrow there’s nothing wrong with spending all you have today and facing tomorrow with chest out. The bitter truth is that the opportunities of today may be absent tomorrow and so when one’s star shine today, measures must be put in place to ensure that its’ glimpses are felt tomorrow. Jollof without kanzo is to me not jollof enough
Last year, a lot of celebrities who had outlived their success came to the public with request for financial support during difficult times. Sadly, some went ahead to die.
There’s no denying fact that life can be cruel at times that even the most prepared person can appear to have wasted his opportunities.
One health challenge can render a rich man poor within a twinkle of an eye regardless of how responsible he lived his life during the hay days. We all pray against that and I for one don’t wishthis oneven my worst enemy.
It is however sad to see a man who once had in abundance begging for so little at the tail end of his life because he failed to plan for the today of his life during the gloriousyesterdays.
This is why I have taken time to write to Shata Wale and other celebrities to look beyond today and focus on the tomorrow when they will not be making as much.
Today, it is easy to splash dollars on strippers, buy shoes at 2000 dollars or drive high fuel consuming vehicles because money keeps hitting the accounts.
A time will come when another artist will be the commercial cashcow of event organizers and move the crowd: A time will come when a Lil Wayne emerges to end the dominance of a Kweku Manu who had just taken over from the Great Agya Koo. A time will come when a FiifiePrat varnishes for a FiifieBanson to rule the airwaves without a competitor. No one thought Samini will fade this quick despite being so young and working equally as hard as he used to. The man who once filled the Accra Sports Stadium will struggle to fill the Conference Centre. How the might have fallen.
The problem with making money through fame is that there comes a time when people want to see a different face and you lose your attraction. Funny Face isn’t as funny as he was some four years ago even though he tries harder to be funny now than ever. It is the time of DKB so his mere appearance on stage without saying a word is enough to make his audience feel their 200 Cedis gate fee has been justified.
Kontihene tried hard last year to make a comeback without success. Nana Quame is still hoping that the fame of the 2000s returns. ‘Pastor’HighliferOforiAmponsah may still be regretting ditching the pulpit for flamboyant return to into the industry that never was.
As your pay cheque reduces, your bills increases: you can no longer return to Lose Your Belt Chop Bar: you have to keep up with eating at KFC even though the meals rarely satisfy the regular hungry Ghanaman. You have to keep appearing on the red carpet looking sleek as always and hay, don’t try to repeat attire and the design must not be adldas.
Last year, during preparation towards the Radio and Television Personality Awards, I had to remind some celebrities that they’d be presenting awards on the day. One of them who I believe will require three wardrobes to contain her clothing’s alone told me she lost track of the event’s time so couldn’t shop for it. Interestingly, she was just one of about three celebrities who gave me the same excuse. They wanted to be at RTP 2016 but didn’t have new clothes to wear. Sad but true
You’d never see Bella Mundi wear the Disney Cartoonlike outfit she wore to the VGMA again. BenedictaGafa won’t wear the see through singlet like outfit to any event again.
To the female celebrities especially, every event is like a wedding preparation: the gown is won ones and so are their outfits.
This is money for good business going waste in the name of seeking fame and slaying on the colourless carpet. It is sad that poor people invest their little in bringing these celebrities to the top only for them to be mocked with flashy lifestyles that make life seems so unfair.
At least, in return for the goodwill of fans, celebrities should be creating good and lasting businesses that can stand the test of time to employ some of these fans
As we sit today, we can’t name many investment making waves that were initiated by any of our celebrities. At least we should be talking about a company like Tigo from a joint venture between Essien, Muntari, Asamoah and their business partners. They have the money and the contacts to raise that kind of money for such an investment. I mean these are guys making over Two Hundred Thousand Pounds a month aside sponsorship deals.
What we see are big cars from Black Stars players and the few who try to silence their critics open Pubs and Night Clubs.
I bet you, in 20 years’ time, some of our popular footballers will be out there looking for help from government because they served Ghana with their foot, got us to the World Cup and nearly made it all the way but for one villain named Suarez. In 2037, we will say they only took Ten Thousand Dollars as winning bonus and 100 Thousand as appearance fee
What will not be said is it that Ten Thousand Dollars was the equivalent of any Ghanaian who earned 700 Cedis a month’s half a decade salary. It will not be expanded that the Ten Thousand Dollars they received was more than fifteen year salary of the man pegged on Ghana’s 8 Cedis daily wage at the time.
We talk of the players who won us Nation’s Cup in the past as if they were waved thank you for their exploits: the truth is that they were given rewards that had value at the time. Some of them were womanisers and wasted their money on their escapades but that has been erased from the narratives
It is both sad and annoying to see people who should end their lives on the high dying as beggers despite the good things they once had at their beacon call
KwawKesse is boasting of his supposed 2 Million Dollar Mansion to prove a point to Shata Wale who is making a similar claim. Koans Estate has quality 5 bedroom houses going for a little over 150Thousand Dollars in a safe gated community. There’s no point inbuilding a 2 Million Dollar Mansion and boasting about it when he could have invested 1.5 Million Dollars in Treasury Bills, sit at home and earn close to 20 Thousand Dollars each Month as interest whilst the 1.5 Million remains untouched for as long as he has nothing to do with it. It is very possible that he was bragging about the value of the house but if I don’t believe the landlord, who else should I?
In God willing 2050, I want to see Old Man Shata Wale driving a 2049 S Class Model and able to live as large as the sweat of his youthful days deserves. This cannot be achieved by throwing cash away in clubs and opening a Lotto Kiosk like Pub for ShataMichy.
I want Mama Sandra Ankobea or Aunte Yvonne Nelson of 2050 to be a comfortable woman who doesn’t care if she gets roles in movies or not. Today, good old MaameDokone still has to smoke to get paid a peanut in movie roles she may have rejected 20 years ago. I see some old actors in town and I get saddened by their struggles. The truth is that most of them earned peanut compared to their today’scounterparts. The fact however remains that other people in different sectors got more out of less
There’s no honour in dying miserable after wasting the blessings of your youth.
Sometimes we must give life a better credit for the good things it bestows on us.
Remember that you are likely to sell every car you buy cheaper than you bought it. Invest in things that appreciate with time. Typical example is land.
Our new generation of celebrities must learn from the mistakes of previous ones. Not only their struggles but the scarcity of opportunities people who were once household names. In all fairness, most of our previous generation of celebrities earned peanuts compared to today’s stars.
This article does not seek to belittle their sufferings and the difficult environment under which they worked and highlight their failings. It is just meant to send a warning signal to those in their prime that big money today, if not well invested will mean nothing in the future
This goes to every Ghanaian: the future places an obligation on each one of us to make the most out of the opportunities that comes our way and secureNOW..
I rest my case.
by Isaac KyeiAndoh
