Matenge slams Domboshaba Board

Former diplomat Edwin Matenge has chided the board of the Domboshaba Cutural Trust (DCT) which organises the annual Domboshaba Cultural Festival for tardiness. Officially opening the event over the weekend near the Domboshaba hill in Kalakamati, which event ran under the theme: Preserving Bakalanga Culture For The Present And Future Generations, he suggested that, one of the problems that lead to late invitations to the festival is lack of commitment by some members in the current Board.

“This means that, sometimes meetings are either poorly attended or not at all attended for lack of the requisite number to form a quorum,” said Matenge who had first received an invitation for him to deliver a motivational speech at the event only to receive a phone call later asking him to do the official opening. “I think there may be a major problem to do with the running of the affairs of the Domboshaba festivals,” he said noting that part of the problem leading to the unsatisfactory performance in the management of Domboshaba festivals is that the Board overstays in office.

“Board members should not be allowed to serve for too long particularly as they serve voluntarily and without remuneration of any sort. The Board seems also to be plagued by poor communication, weak or insignificant participation by a number of stakeholders,” he said. Matenge believes that a major contributing factor for this is the general under-development of the north eastern region where Domboshaba is located and the resultant brain drain of its people, particularly the younger generation. “Clearly, this Board must immediately after this festival, ensure that proper plan and programmes are instituted to call a general meeting at which elections can be held in order to bring in a new crop of members and leadership. On that issue I think I shouldn’t say more,” concluded Matenge.