The biggest award ceremony in Uganda, took place last weekend, with its usual trappings of pomp. From the décor, to the beautiful outfits donned by the guests, the Pam Awards lived up to their billing as one of the most entertaining events of the year.

Credit should be given to Pam Awards Chairman Isaac Mulindwa for successfully running the show for six years and making the event better each year.

However, we cannot forget that like most African award ceremonies, from the Koras, Kisimas to the Pam Awards, the formatting, and approach by the organisers are borrowed heavily from the likes of MTV's EMAs and VMAs, BET awards and the Grammys.

The problem is, the execution falls short of the big events that are available to us live on pay TV as they happen.

Pam has taken the right direction by airing the awards live on TV. As the awards were live on WBS, despite the signal not being the best, the organisers can claim hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Nevertheless, more needs to be done to cement the ceremony as the biggest entertainment event in the country.

Performances

Various artistes performed the usual hit songs that dominate the FM's airwaves, and night spots, but the lack of "surprise performances", denies the event the element of creativity that award ceremonies are known for.

In 2005 when the Fugees reunited as the opening act of the 2005 BET awards; we all remember Madonna's performance with Britney during the 2003 VMAs where they went as far as sharing a kiss! Surprise performances are hallmarks of award ceremonies, Pam awards had none.

It would have been creative and interesting for the organisers to stage a "special performance" of say Mowzey Radio, and Weasel performing their hit Zuena featuring Bebe Cool, who hates the song. How about that for a unique special performance?

Big artistes are also never on the list of the Pam performances. Artistes like Bobi Wine, Bebe Cool and Chameleone never got on stage to perform.

Juliana Kanyomozi was hijacked to put up an unplanned performance after she was announced artiste of the year. At the big award ceremonies, the big artistes are expected to perform.

The likes of Kanye West, Madonna, Beyonce etc do perform despite their obvious "Big Star status" and nominations, and actually put up legendary performances. Such acts of the big stars, adds pizzazz to the awards ceremony.

The emcees

Last weekend's PAM awards emcees happened to be the same old people who have graced album launches, eviction parties and previous Pam awards events. But in a country of 30 million people, do we lack a few other eloquent and humorous personalities? Why the monotony of the same emcees, whose jokes and wit are already known to most of us?

Why not get someone say Bobi Wine, whose wit would be a welcome surprise as far as emceeing goes. No offence meant to the three emcees at the PAM awards, but it would be innovative on the part of the organisers to get someone to emcee, other than the usual culprits.

For the European and American awards, there is a different host every year and he doesn't have to be a professional emcee. From rappers like Snoop Dogg to comedians like Chris Rock, the emcees usually add a new twist to the event.

Handing out awards

The Pam Awards people usually use sponsors and a few eminent people in society to hand out the awards. These people come and just say, "The nominees are .... And the winner is ...."

That monotony can be done away with if the people to hand out awards are selected carefully so that they are relevant to the awards being handed out and they add an entertaining twist to the event.

Dr. Maggie Kigozi handed out one of the awards at the Pam awards. How about if she had been selected to hand over the hip-hop category where her son Navio was a contender and the eventual winner? There would be drama by her reading out the nominees and the chemistry when she hands over the award to her son would be priceless entertainment.

The Pam Awards are still in their infancy, compared to the European awards they try to emulate, but that doesn't give the event the license to have glitches, which could be avoided. Awards are given out in recognition of the artiste's hard work, and creativity, and award ceremonies are the glamour that comes with awarding artistes.

The organisers should be able to perfect both the awarding, and the ceremony itself, so as not to shortchange both the artiste and the thousands who flock to the ceremony.