Following allegations by rapper Kwaw Kese, that a producer from Vodafone Icons called him to pay 10,000ghc in order for the rapper’s brother, Budda to win Vodafone Icons- Street Edition, the telecommunications company has responded to the claims. A statement signed by Carmen Bruce-Annan, Head, Brand & Corporate Communications for Vodafone Ghana reads as follows:

Our attention has been drawn to allegations in the media that Vodafone was biased in selecting the eventual winner for the Vodafone ICONS competition. Vodafone is a high integrity organisation that has zero-tolerance towards bribery and corruption.  This is non-negotiable and under no circumstance will we compromise on this by demanding money from any contestant or their families. Vodafone ICONS results; including the eventual winner, are driven 100% through fans’ votes, which are sent by SMS and not public cheering.  The public had the option of keeping a contestant in the competition by texting YES and candidate’s name or voting out a contestant by texting NO and candidate’s name to designated short codes. In order to ensure integrity and transparency, we appointed Mtech Communicationsand AtchikRealtime to independently manage the voting process and KPMG to independently review and validate the votes received. The collated votes from both Mtech Communications and AtchikRealtime were forwarded to KPMG for review. The review involved collating the relevant votes based on the voting criteria, applying weights to the votes (80% on “YES” votes and 20% on “NO” votes, and ranking the net votes).  The final validated votes received from KPMG formed the basis for determining candidate’s eviction or otherwise.We want to reassure ICONS fans and the general public that we remain, as always an organisation of high integrity.

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