Artiste manager and musician, Bullet has defended Shatta Wale, following the latter’s arrest by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on August 20.
He said the arrest was nothing but a witch hunt, designed to suppress the creative industry.
“I think it is more of witch hunting,” Bullet stated. “There is more to it than people might not even understand. The system has been designed for musicians and celebrities to be poor, so that they can suppress us.”
Bullet believes that the system is unhappy with the success of musicians like Shatta Wale, who have been able to break the mould and achieve financial success.
“They don’t understand that a musician has been able to make so much money. They don’t understand that a musician has been able to buy a house in Trassaco, own Shaxi company, own estates and do oil business.
“So the system will hold you back and tell you that you can never make it or shouldn’t make it. Nobody should be happy that Shatta Wale has been arrested,” he stated.
The rapper also credited Shatta Wale for changing the game for musicians in Ghana, allowing them to charge higher fees for their performances.
“Back in the day, even when we were A-list artistes, the highest we received was GH¢3,000. Shatta Wale came into the industry and changed everything.
Now, artistes can charge GH¢200,000, GH¢300,000 for a show. Shatta Wale came into the industry and started taking $100,000, $150,000 for a show, so he changed something.
“He showed the way that musicians, too, can make money. So the arrest is deeper than you guys could think. Before, musicians couldn’t even afford a BMW, but now boys are building mansions, boys are buying Range Rovers, Rolls-Royce. Boys are making money and owning estates, so the system is not happy; they want us to be poor,” he said.
Bullet stated this when he joined a number of Shatta Wale’s fans who had gathered at the offices of EOCO in Accra on Thursday, demanding the release of their music icon.
The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has granted the dancehall artiste Charles Nii Armah Mensah, popularly known as Shatta Wale, bail in the sum of GH¢10 million with two sureties to be justified.
In a statement issued today, EOCO said Shatta Wale remains in custody pending the provision of the sureties, whose properties will be verified to ensure they are commensurate with the bail amount.
The musician was invited to EOCO’s offices on Wednesday, August 20, to assist in investigations into the purchase of a Lamborghini Urus, which has been linked to proceeds of a US$4 million crime involving Nana Kwabena Amuah, a Ghanaian currently serving a prison term in the United States.
According to EOCO, after nearly four hours of interrogation, Shatta Wale was unable to identify who sold the luxury vehicle to him, claiming instead that he acquired it from the “street”.