Raha Fest hints at leaving Kenya after December festivities turn chaotic

After an unexpected turn of events at Raha Fest on 31st December, the Raha Fest Management released a statement concerning the situation.

The organisation began by stating that this might be the last time they will be having an event in Kenya. They expressed their disappointment with some Kenyans' behaviour during the event.

In the statement, they stated that they achieved their end of the bargain by providing entertainment and experiences with impeccable standards.

Raha Fest started in Kenya in March 2024, where they brought in Nigerian artiste Davido and King Promise, who delivered electrifying performances. They later brought in Nigerian artistes Ruger and Ayra Starr, who gave an amazing performance for the revellers in their festival dubbed Raha Rave.

After that, they organised Raha Pull-Up, where Amapiano sensation Daliwonga from South Africa gave the revellers the time of their lives. According to the statement, after all these events became successful, they decided to bring the big guns, the Raha Fest December Calendar.

This 4-day event was supposed to be the icing on the cake of their achievements despite facing immense challenges in organising them in Kenya. The Raha December calendar was perfect until all hell broke loose after some Kenyans forcibly "occupied" the event amidst Jamaican dancehall artiste Shenseea's performance.

"We had observed a growing trend of some Kenyans exhibiting unhealthy and deeply worrying entitlement towards events. They believe they should not buy tickets to events and are entitled and deliberately willing to "occupy" events. This trend is disappointing, regretful and retrogressive. This behaviour poses immense danger to the artistes, who perform in a safe environment, potentially seeing Kenya as an unsafe environment for them. This entitlement poses immense dangers to organisers, security personnel, vendors, sponsors, investors, to name a few," the statement read.

Before everything went wrong, they had brought in Ya Levis to headline during the Raha Rave at Masshouse, Nairobi. The next day, Nigerian artiste BNXN, formerly known as Buju, and Victony delivered electrifying performances for the attendees.

On the last day, Tanzania's Alikiba, Uganda's Joshua Baraka and other Kenyan artistes like Lil Maina and Fathermoh (just to name a few) had performed prior to Shenseea's performance. The statement also added that the rowdy Kenyans who forcibly "occupied" the event at Uhuru Gardens destroyed property, hurt some of their security personnel, and disrupted the whole show.

Kenyans have responded on the internet concerning the whole situation.

"Someone tell Shenseea we shenseealy apologise,” wrote one netizen. “Tabia za ushago. Mnunue tickets,” said another.

"Refund our money. What kind of event organiser cannot separate those who have paid and those who haven't in an organised manner free of excessive force and violence?! I can't count how many times I narrowly escaped being hit by a rungu. In my short dress, I ran back and forth, hiding between cars and choking on teargas. Some police officers were using live bullets. Refund my money and pay for the damage of fixing my phone that broke in that chaos," a disgruntled fan commented.

The Raha Fest Management has apologised to anyone who paid for the tickets and faced inconveniences.