The contract was signed by The Ben, Bruce Melodie, and several witnesses, mainly people who work closely with the two artists in their daily music activities.
The agreement stated that it would be implemented from the date of signing until the completion of the concerts that Bruce Melodie had planned to perform, and that it would be respected in two phases.
The first phase concerned the obligations related to The Ben’s concert, which was scheduled up to January 2, 2026. This would then be followed by the second phase, which concerned the concerts planned by Bruce Melodie.
The agreement clearly stated that any party that failed to respect its terms would be required to pay a penalty of 600,000,000 RWF for breach of contract. The contract was signed before a notary to ensure that it met all legal requirements.
On December 31, 2025, the first breach of the contract occurred. Bruce Melodie and his management team at 155:AMpromoted an After Party concert, even though the agreement stated that while preparations for The Ben’s concert were ongoing, Bruce Melodie was not allowed to advertise or promote any other concert.
After promoting that concert in violation of the contract, there was no other consequence except the obligation to pay the contractual penalty of 600,000,000 RWF, and the contract was considered terminated since one party had already violated it.
However, the two sides later sat down for discussions. One party admitted the mistake and apologized. The Ben accepted the apology and decided to forgive them, waiving the 600,000,000 RWF fine that they should have paid at that time.
The concert eventually took place and ended successfully. However, later, disagreements over the contract resurfaced after The Ben denied information about joint concerts with Bruce Melodie.
Some of the reasons learned by InyaRwanda.com include the fact that The Ben was not informed in advance about the start of the promotion for those concerts, so that they could first discuss how the promotion should be conducted, especially out of respect for an artist of Bruce Melodie’s status.
Seeing this as a form of disrespect, and noting that there were other unresolved issues in the contract that needed to be discussed before starting a new joint project on the same page, The Ben decided to deny the information about performing together in provincial concerts.
After realizing that The Ben had denied the plan and that some sponsors who had intended to advertise during these concerts were beginning to lose interest, the two sides held further discussions, and The Ben once again granted forgiveness.
Currently, Bruce Melodie is in Kenya, where he is promoting his song “Pom Pom,” a collaboration with Joel Brown and Diamond Platnumz. Meanwhile, this Wednesday, The Ben and Gisubizo Ministries are set to release a new song they worked on together titled “Nabaye umwe n’Imana” (“I Became One with God”).
From the very beginning, Bruce Melodie became the first to breach the agreement
