While all eyes were on who would become the winner of the inaugural edition of The Next Popstar and walk away with Rwf50 million worth the prize, organisers have suddenly postponed the music contest until further notice. Six contestants, namely Jackson Cyiza, Gisa Cy’Inganzo, Yannick Gashiramanga, Ish Kevin, Honorine Irakoze Hirwa, and Jasmine Kibatega, were expected to go for a six-day boot camp at Hotel Villa Portofino, Nyarutarama from December 18-24 after they progressed to the finals of the music contest on Wednesday, December 16. However, in a statement released by the music contest management on Sunday, December 20, organisers decided to postpone the boot camp and the grand finale, which was originally scheduled on December 26, to a later date following the ‘upsurge in COVID-19 cases’. “The decision has been taken due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and, considering some of the activities that were scheduled at the boot camp, such as live performance training, dancing and acting classes involve gatherings, we are fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of the contestants and all Rwandans,” reads part of the statement. The organisers added that they are monitoring the situation closely in consultation with the Ministry of Youth and Culture, Rwanda Music Federation and Rwanda Biomedical Centre before they announce new dates for the music contest’s boot camp and the grand finale. Organised by More Events, a local events management company, the new music contest is a 10-year project that seeks to unearth the most talented artistes in Rwanda, with a target of elevating local musical talent to the international stage through music distribution via different international music platforms. The contest is a partnership with Network Showbiz (NSB), an American company, Sony Music, through their label SM1 Music Group and Second Nature Films. Organisers address complaints The contest’s postponement comes after some contestants expressed their disappointment, accusing the judges of lack of transparency while deciding who goes and who stays during the competition. For instance, one of the contestants, Sammy Yvon Uwikunda, was not impressed by the fact that he didn’t come among the top six finalists despite gathering the most votes in the contest with over 80, 000 votes from online and SMS voting. Missing out on the chance to progress got the Symphony band member, questioning the music contest’s fairness shortly after realising that his opponent Gisa cy’Inganzo went through the finals with far fewer votes, while the contest is there to recognize the most popular contestant. Gisa Cy’ Inganzo was voted just 315 times online and 712 times through SMS voting. The New Times understands that Uwinkunda, who invested over Rwf800,000 to get votes, has submitted a complaint requesting Rwanda Investigation Bureau and other government institutions to investigate his issue with The Next Popstar’s organisers. Contacted to comment on the issue, Christian Dushime, the CEO of More Events which represents the contest stakeholders in Rwanda, told this publication that the competition is looking for the most popular contestant and not the contestant who invested to get voted. He said that their voting system is able to monitor how popular a contestant is and that no one should be surprised if a contestant with far fewer votes than those of the likes of Uwikunda gets through to the next stages. “Gathering the most votes does not mean that he [Uwikunda] is the most popular contestant. We never asked contestants to spend money to get voted because we are looking at the contestant voted by many people and not the contestant with the highest votes from a very little number of voters,” Dushime explained. “Whenever someone gets eliminated they feel bad and they have the right to complain,” he added. He added that he and his team are open to explain to whoever needs clarifications on how it all happened.
