Staff Writer
A young entrepreneur, Samuel Shinedima, is on the verge of dragging the Omuthiya Town Council to court over claims that the local authority stole his idea dubbed the Omuthiya Othithiya Festival and Career fair.
The event is now slated for the 28th to the 31st of July, but Shinedima, through his lawyer Salomon Kanyemba, has warned that if it proceeds, he will institute legal action by approaching the High Court with an urgent application.
Kanyemba has in the meantime confirmed that his client indeed wrote a letter to the council through its spokesperson, Piet Andreki, and secured an appointment leading to the idea being presented on PowerPoint.
“The name of the project was revealed to the council as “Othithiya Festival 2020” under the theme “Creating Every Opportunity”. We are further instructed that upon the end of our client’s presentation, which was to the satisfaction of the management committee, our client requested the council, and all persons present at the presentation to sign a “Non-Disclosure Agreement”, which the council objected that such will only be done upon approval of the project.
“It is to our client’s dismay to notice a social media page” Omuthiya_Othithiya_Festival”. It was after our client’s investigations that he discovered that the above-mentioned page was linked to Omuthiya Town Council. The poster displayed thereto shows a concept similar to the idea our client pitched to the council on July 2019,” said the lawyer.
The Town Council has however declined to comment on the matter for now saying that a press conference will be held in due course.
However, an inside staffer told The Villager’s sister radio station, Eagle FM, that the Omuthiya Othithiya Festival will proceed, despite threat of legal action.
However, Kanyemba has blasted the town council for acting in a self-serving and rapacious manner, without affording his client a right to a fair predetermination of “his proposal”.
“It is hereby our instructions to demand, as we hereby do, that the Omuthiya Othithiya Festival scheduled for 28 to 31 July 2022 be put on hold and that the council should desist from marketing and/or promotion of concept/project forthwith.”
“Should the Town Council wish to continue with this project, we hold further instructions to approach the High Court of Namibia on an urgent basis. Upon your failure to meet our client’s demands within 14 days after receipt of this missive, we hold instructions to institute legal proceedings against you in the High Court of Namibia without any prior notice, costs for which you shall be held liable,” said the lawyer.
