Sierra Leone ruled-out of Project Fame over Ebola
The organizers of Project Fame West Africa have excluded Sierra Leone from participating at this year’s edition of the reality music show because of the ebola outbreak.
An SMS message which was sent by the organizers in Nigeria to their local representative in Sierra Leone disclosed that they cannot risk Sierra Leone to participate.
The SMS which SaloneJamboree has in its possession reads: “We have a major challenge now with Ebola. MTN have said they cannot take the risk of an outbreak.”
The news came just as the two Sierra Leonean representatives were about to fly to Nigeria to join the rest of the other West African contestants to take part in West Africa’s biggest reality music show.
It could be recalled that Khadison Duwai and Ibraham Momoh emerged as the Sierra Leone representative to Project Fame West Africa, following a painstaking audition of dozens of other participants.
Duwai and Momoh had a slight delay due their passports but the two were expected to leave Sierra Leone this week for Nigeria.
The youngest of the two boys, Khadison, is yet to be informed of the development as his handlers are wary of how he would receive the news. He was looking very much to his participation, said Mathew Kamara who has been preparing the boys.
Khadison even told Salonejamboree in an earlier interview that he was expecting nothing but victory in Nigeria.
MTN Poject Fame local representative, T.J Cole, told SaloneJamboree that, “the Boys should be given a fair chance.”The veteran actor said there are credible doctors in Sierra Leone that will perform the necessary tests on the two contestants if need be.
“The hopes of a whole nation are on these Boys,” he said.
However, an observer who has been following the Sierra Leone entertainment industry argued that the boys cannot be ruled out of the competition. He said the reasons the organizers advanced are not enough to rule the country out of the race.
“They have no proof that the Boys are infected and besides why should the organizers have travelled all the way from Nigeria and took part in the auditioning when they knew ebola was here,” the observer who spoke on condition of anonymity, charged.
“It is either they allow the Boys to take part or we forget about Project Fame in Sierra Leone forever, it is a rip-off.”
Efforts are on the way to talk to the organizers to reverse their decision.
A senior government official who was briefed earlier about this latest development has promised that they “will look into the matter.”
Sierra Leone has been participating in the reality show for more than 6 years now. No Sierra Leonean has ever won the enviable prize of the competition but the country’s participants have been performing remarkably well.
Murtala Mohamed Kamara
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