Legal action against Kora Awards
About two months after the Kora Awards ceremony was supposed to take place in Namibia, legal action has been initiated in an attempt to recover more than N$23.5 million the Namibian Tourism Board (NTB) had paid it to market Namibia.
NTB chief executive Digu //Noabeb and the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, have confirmed the legal action.
The Kora All-Africa Music Awards was founded by Ernest Adjovi in 1994.
The legal action follows a breach of contract by the owners of the Kora Awards to host the event and failure to refund NTB’s money in terms of their agreement.
The event was initially scheduled for December last year. It was postponed to 20 March this year, but again did not get off the ground.
According to Shifeta, the NTB had entered into a service agreement with Kora for a tourism promotion package valued at N$23.5 million.
The minister said when the breach of contract became apparent the ministry instructed the NTB to recover every cent.
The terms of the agreement obligated Kora to pay back the money within 60 days after the breach had occurred. The 60-day period lapsed on 20 May.
Speaking to Namibian Sun yesterday, //Noabeb said the NTB had approached lawyers and a summons would be issued soon.
“We are just finalising the paperwork,” he said.
//Noabeb said once the summons was served the owners of the Kora Awards would have the right to respond to NTB’s claim, provide evidence of what marketing had been done and what amount they would pay back.
He said NTB had not seen any marketing that was done and was claiming a refund of the full amount.
“Accepting to host Kora was purely based on the international exposure Namibia was going to gain as presented by the organisers,” Shifeta said.
He stressed that the Namibian government had not donated any money towards the hosting of the event and that no other government institution was party to the agreement.
He said the NTB had signed the agreement in good faith and in the interest of tourism promotion and development.
Shifeta further said that the ministry upheld the principles of accountability and transparency as outlined in Namibian laws and policies.
“It has at no time given false information or tried to mislead the public. It is against any logic that the ministry would try to scam government or any other government agencies.”
Since the inception of the event it has been marred by controversy because of cancellations, postponements and non-payment of artists.
In 2008 the Cross River State in Nigeria sued Kora Awards after founder Ernest Adjovi tried to move the event from the Calabar State to Lagos despite obtaining US$2.5 million from them. A high court in Nigeria then granted the State an injunction restraining Kora or any of its agents from holding the awards ceremony until the matter was finalised.
ELLANIE SMIT
NTB chief executive Digu //Noabeb and the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, have confirmed the legal action.
The Kora All-Africa Music Awards was founded by Ernest Adjovi in 1994.
The legal action follows a breach of contract by the owners of the Kora Awards to host the event and failure to refund NTB’s money in terms of their agreement.
The event was initially scheduled for December last year. It was postponed to 20 March this year, but again did not get off the ground.
According to Shifeta, the NTB had entered into a service agreement with Kora for a tourism promotion package valued at N$23.5 million.
The minister said when the breach of contract became apparent the ministry instructed the NTB to recover every cent.
The terms of the agreement obligated Kora to pay back the money within 60 days after the breach had occurred. The 60-day period lapsed on 20 May.
Speaking to Namibian Sun yesterday, //Noabeb said the NTB had approached lawyers and a summons would be issued soon.
“We are just finalising the paperwork,” he said.
//Noabeb said once the summons was served the owners of the Kora Awards would have the right to respond to NTB’s claim, provide evidence of what marketing had been done and what amount they would pay back.
He said NTB had not seen any marketing that was done and was claiming a refund of the full amount.
“Accepting to host Kora was purely based on the international exposure Namibia was going to gain as presented by the organisers,” Shifeta said.
He stressed that the Namibian government had not donated any money towards the hosting of the event and that no other government institution was party to the agreement.
He said the NTB had signed the agreement in good faith and in the interest of tourism promotion and development.
Shifeta further said that the ministry upheld the principles of accountability and transparency as outlined in Namibian laws and policies.
“It has at no time given false information or tried to mislead the public. It is against any logic that the ministry would try to scam government or any other government agencies.”
Since the inception of the event it has been marred by controversy because of cancellations, postponements and non-payment of artists.
In 2008 the Cross River State in Nigeria sued Kora Awards after founder Ernest Adjovi tried to move the event from the Calabar State to Lagos despite obtaining US$2.5 million from them. A high court in Nigeria then granted the State an injunction restraining Kora or any of its agents from holding the awards ceremony until the matter was finalised.
ELLANIE SMIT
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