THERE could be two things about Ernest Adjovi – either he is a sleek talker and a shrewd businessman, or the people he deals with are plain dumb.
This Benin-born businessman, who founded the Kora All Africa Music Awards and the now-defunct Miss Malaika, seems to convince people easily – including presidents – to buy into his dreams.
A quick check reveals that Adjovi has left a long trail of broken promises and dreams, apart from creaming off governments of millions of dollars.
Two Nigerian states paid him more than US$10 million between them in 2008/9, while the South African government, according to Adjovi in 2005, paid through the department of arts and culture. He did not specify the amount the latter paid him.
Although the Namibian government vowed that no public funds would be used to host the awards’ ceremony, public funds – could be N$21 million, according to sources — from the Namibia Tourism Board were handed over to Adjovi.
Trouble started in 2000 when the event was held at Sun City in South Africa. Some of the big names in the music industry such as the late Miriam Makeba and Ringo Madlingozi had to pay for their own accommodation and transport.
The late Jabu Khanyile and the group Bongo Maffin refused to collect their awards, protesting what they called shoddy organisation.
The SABC and e-tv accused Adjovi of lying to the public that they had both breached agreements to broadcast the event live.
SABC spokesperson then, Alet Bensch, said Adjovi failed to pay for their services, although he demanded a lot from them.
“They wanted free coverage, and during our air time, they also wanted to advertise their own Kora products,’’ stated Bensch.
According to e.tv, Adjovi did not come back after he got the budget, until a few weeks before the event. “We do not accept last-minute arrangements,’’ e.tv head of corporate affairs Kanthan Pillay said at the time.
But somehow Adjovi always has his way.
So, if it is true that the Kora awards scheduled for 20 March this year can only happen in December – then there is nothing new, for the event has been postponed more than seven times since 1994.
There were times when the awards were postponed after Adjovi had fallen out with partners. This was the case in 2005 when the South African Airways pulled out of the deal to fly in artists at the last minute.
For Namibia, however, this is the second postponement in just two months after the event was moved from December last year to March this year.
In the past, the awards were postponed for very flimsy reasons, just like the one proffered in December last year about the organisers being unable to secure a site for a dome which was to be used as a venue.
In 2008, the awards were postponed because Adjovi had double-crossed Lagos and Cross River States. The stand-off between Lagos and Cross River resulted in the awards being postponed five times in a year.
At one time in 2009, he postponed the awards because of a flawed voting system. Adjovi blamed local TV stations for having no diffuse signals to pick up satellite from CFI.
After two years of back and forth, the awards were finally held in April 2010 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where the Nigerian duo P-Square were voted artists of the year. The duo was supposed to be paid US$1 million.
P-Square never got the prize money, and they launched a campaign calling for the boycott of the awards and Akon, the star attraction, did not turn up even after he was offered US$150 000 and a private jet to fly him to Ouagadougou.
In 2012, Adjovi also postponed the awards which were supposed to be held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire because the American R&B singer Chris Brown, who was dating another musician Rihanna, had been delayed.
Brown was the main attraction at the awards, and Adjovi cancelled the event at the last minute, claiming that the American had missed his flight.
Later when pressed hard, Adjovi blamed heavy rains and unnamed logistical problems. Brown eventually made it to Abidjan, but only to perform in a stadium at a different concert.
And if it is also true that the Namibia Tourism Board has paid about N$21 million (about US$1,3 million) for promotional packages, again there is nothing new in this because awards’ founder Adjovi was once arrested in Nigeria for a similar thing.
In 2011, Adjovi was detained for pocketing US$2,5 million from Cross River State, where he had convinced the governor that the Kora awards would be held in the region.
Instead, Adjovi then went to Lagos, where he signed another deal for hosting the awards and was paid US$7,5 million.
His lawyer managed to snatch him from the jaws of the Nigerian law and shortly afterwards, Adjovi was in Burkina Faso, offering the awards.
Although the Burkina Faso ceremony went on in 2010, the Nigerians were not yet done with Adjovi, whom they arrested and detained for 19 days.
To wiggle from the claws of the law, Adjovi had to surrender his equipment used for the Burkina Faso ceremony.
