ARUNGA: Why are showbiz events so severely disorganised?

It hasn’t been a good week for meet and greets in Nairobi.

First, there was the Mwanaume Ni Effort Meet and Greet with the Real Housewives of Atlanta at Nairobi’s B-Club. The fliers kept changing, though that wasn’t the fault of the organisers – first, we all thought Tiny was coming too, at which point we would have been treated to an impromptu half of Xscape mini tour – ok, ok, that may have been a stretch. But it was going to be enough to just see the one and only Kandi Burruss, whom I’ve admired from afar for years. At first, I wasn’t too hyped about going, but it was free, so I thought – why not.

Maybe the free part was the problem. The flier said 6pm until late. We figured this is probably not going to start on time, if Kenyan events are anything to go by, so we figured we’d get there at 10 to get seats, and then wait for maybe two hours, because surely by midnight, the event would have gotten going?

Nope.

SHOWED UP AT 2AM

Kandi showed up at 2am, and the crowd control was severely lacking, to the point that she got so spooked, she went back to her bus at 2:15 am. We saw the top of her head while we were busy trying to get pictures – not her whole outfit, guys, just her braids – and that was that. The VIP area was packed, which I guess is because they came in a two-bus convoy of people, but there were also other people in the VIP section who were crowding the area. At some point the bouncers just started pushing people back – which is fine, except for the fact that they were ejecting people from their seats. If you didn’t want people to sit there because you knew the VIP was going to extend to their area, why did you let them sit there in the first place?

The organisation was severely lacking – with timings, with seating areas, and with the nothingness we left the club with, four and a half hours later, having seen no one, taken pictures with or listened to anyone and basically wasted time. Maybe I should just stick to Kandi on TV, seeing as I clearly didn’t make it to the wedding.

BUNGLED CONCERTS

And speaking of terrible organisation, what the hell was going on with that entire Wizkid concert? I’m sure you have already seen the video of the errant policeman threatening to kill a concertgoer, but that isn’t the fault of the organisers. What is the fault of the organisers is – not ensuring that the security dogs outside the venue were trained, because those dogs were attacking people! All you have to do is do a quick search on BBQLIVE and you will see the testimonies. And the organisers’ defensive and bungled handling of it. Who did they hire for security? Why was there so few staff? Why did the people who paid Sh25,000 for VIP tickets not get to meet and greet Wizkid, or get free drinks as promised, and why did the waiters in the area have no clue that they were supposed to get freebies? Why were people being beaten up by this so-called security while trying to get in and out of the venue?

WHY DISRESPECT ARTISTES?

And then, why weren’t artistes who opened for Wizkid fed or treated with respect? If you follow Fena or H_art the Band on Instagram, you already know what happened. They were being yelled at by management, not fed, their set was cut short by a very rude MC obviously working on someone else’s instructions…and they were not even allowed to meet the artist they opened for. In fact, they were told that since they had finished performing, they were not needed anymore and should go home!

Organisers in this country need to stop promising things they cannot deliver, one, and two, they really need to start treating Kenyan people and Kenyan artists with respect. Don’t hold an event you can’t handle. Don’t issue a weak apology after you’ve sorely messed up. Stop taking people’s money for lip sync shows and for everyone’s sake, learn from the people who have already done this before. New kid on the block definitely doesn’t mean the kid most eager to prove themselves - and I learnt that the hard way.