No Invitation, No Appearance On TGMA Red Carpet On Saturday

In a bid to bring structure and dignity to this year’s Red Carpet session, Charterhouse, organisers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA), have implemented new restrictions on who gets to step onto the red carpet.

For the 2025 edition, the red carpet experience will be more exclusive, with access limited strictly to officially invited celebrities and dignitaries.

According to the organisers, there will be two separate red carpet segments: one designated for general media interactions and photoshoots, and another—more prominent—session for televised coverage, including live fashion interviews.

Access to the main red carpet, which will be broadcast on TV, will require an official invitation.

The TGMA red carpet has long drawn criticism, with detractors citing poor celebrity selections and underwhelming production quality. Many have complained that allowing “just anybody” onto the carpet dilutes the experience and slows down proceedings.

Some have also criticized the often uninspired fashion choices on display. Last year, industry voices like Michael Ola and Kofi Okyere Darko (KOD) didn’t hold back in expressing their disappointment with how the red carpet was handled.

Ola Michael remarked that while the red carpet used to be an event of its own, it has declined significantly.
“This year’s red carpet looked like a marketplace,” he lamented at the time. “Maybe they didn’t plan it properly or got someone unqualified to handle it. They just allowed anyone onto the carpet.”

KOD, founder of the Nineteen57 fashion brand, echoed similar sentiments, stating that many attendees could have done much better with their style.
“For me, the performers brought their A-game that night. But the red carpet was a letdown,” he wrote on Facebook. “If you compare it to events elsewhere in Africa—like South Africa or Nigeria—the difference is clear.”

But this year, things are set to change. The organisers are ushering in a new era with this revised red carpet policy, aiming to elevate the overall experience when the TGMA ceremony takes place on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at the Grand Arena, International Conference Centre (AICC).