Where are the Kora millions?
Almost a month since the ill-fated Kora All-Africa Music Awards event was called off indefinitely; Namibians have been in the dark as to what exactly happened to the N$21 million gift to the organisers of the controversial event. In the meantime, it has also been reported that the organisers have pocketed an additional N$8 million from the authorities.
Confidente recently quoted Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein as saying that an additional N$8 million was paid to principal event organiser Ernest Adjovi without Treasury approval.
This is on top of the N$21 million that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism asked the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) to spend its entire national tourism market budget on the Kora Awards. It has also been reported that some high ranking officials within the Ministry of Environment and Tourism are reportedly not cooperating with Finance Ministry officials who have since launched an investigation into how the money was paid into Adjovi’s offshore accounts without the consent of Treasury. The decision by NTB and the Tourism Ministry to spend taxpayers’ money on these controversial awards have irked many, including tourism industry players, who recently told Namibian Sun that the decision to spend the entire annual marketing budget of the NTB was ill-advised. They also stated on record that they were never consulted on such a decision. It is really sad that so far no one has been held accountable for this mess. It is clear that those involved in these awards and their “partners” in government should be held responsible for basically defrauding the state. The mastermind behind these awards is not new to controversy and literally disappeared into thin air when other African countries, he is alleged to have defrauded through Kora, were looking for him. It baffles us as to why government chose to work with somebody whose past is still mired in controversy.
The nation needs an answer now as to when will Adjovi and his cohorts pay back our hard-earned money. And as Abraham Lincoln once said “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Confidente recently quoted Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein as saying that an additional N$8 million was paid to principal event organiser Ernest Adjovi without Treasury approval.
This is on top of the N$21 million that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism asked the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) to spend its entire national tourism market budget on the Kora Awards. It has also been reported that some high ranking officials within the Ministry of Environment and Tourism are reportedly not cooperating with Finance Ministry officials who have since launched an investigation into how the money was paid into Adjovi’s offshore accounts without the consent of Treasury. The decision by NTB and the Tourism Ministry to spend taxpayers’ money on these controversial awards have irked many, including tourism industry players, who recently told Namibian Sun that the decision to spend the entire annual marketing budget of the NTB was ill-advised. They also stated on record that they were never consulted on such a decision. It is really sad that so far no one has been held accountable for this mess. It is clear that those involved in these awards and their “partners” in government should be held responsible for basically defrauding the state. The mastermind behind these awards is not new to controversy and literally disappeared into thin air when other African countries, he is alleged to have defrauded through Kora, were looking for him. It baffles us as to why government chose to work with somebody whose past is still mired in controversy.
The nation needs an answer now as to when will Adjovi and his cohorts pay back our hard-earned money. And as Abraham Lincoln once said “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
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Namibian Sun
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