Afua Asantewaa Cites Dumsor As Possible Reason For Her Guinness World Record Fiasco
Afua Asantewaa has attributed her failure to secure the title of the longest singing marathon in the world to the issue of dumsor, a term used to describe power outages in Ghana.
Following her disqualification and the subsequent revelation of the verdict by Guinness World Records officials on Twitter, Ghanaians and social media users have been discussing the reasons behind her inability to achieve the coveted accolade, despite her dedicated efforts.
Guinness World Records stated that Afua had violated the required breaks during the singing marathon, but she has now pointed to dumsor as one of the major contributory factors that caused the faisco.
According to her, a power outage lasting 45 minutes during the marathon, which took place in December 2023, hindered her chances of breaking the record.
“At Akwaaba village there was a plant, but it was taken away. But we had someone who sponsored us with a generator. There was a day when the light went off and when they were switching, it caught fire. It was ECG. The lights went off and I will say that it was 10 minutes. Honestly, if you ask me I think GTA and my team will be the best people to answer because at that time, I wouldn’t know the best period when it happened. Everything was off, the time, Dj, everything. The light went off in between an hour period.
You asked that at the point when the lights went off, I believed the attempt had failed, right? The motive of this attempt was not to give up. Let me establish a point…Even when my voice went off I could have stopped,” she said on United Showbiz on UTV.
“As human as I am, I felt it but there are two sides to it. When I even lost my voice…It got to a point where my voice went off and I couldn’t talk at all. With that, I did more than five five-minute break, that was the first one I encountered.
“However, what I know is that regardless of the challenge finish the attempt. Even those who entered the box…” she said when Halifax Ansah Addo asked if she knew the power cuts played a role in her not breaking the record.
She continued “I remember my health team, the psychologist kept asking me do you remember why you started this and so when he asks I tell him I remember. Halifax, the main reason was to project Ghanaian music. Halifax, when we were done they asked for the videos because we even forgot to fastrack something to get a certificate. It wasn’t only the technical error, even kids that came there weren’t allowed”.
Franklin Cudjoe responded to her position by agreeing and further elaborating on the matter in a Facebook post.
Afua’s failed attempt at breaking the GWR singathon was primarily caused by DUM ( power outage) and the genset that could have backed up took up to 45 minutes to kick in because it was faulty. Well Afua Asantewaa O Aduonum believes even though the incident affected her attempt, she didn’t think the competiton had to end because she needed to project Ghanaian music. Interesting discussion. Take a look as entertainment pundit Halifax grills Afua on your favourite United TV Showbiz programme. DUM is Evil.
