Nairobi News

The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has threatened to file a lawsuit against the organizers of the Stanbic Yetu Festival who flew in renowned American boyband Boyz II Men for a concert that was held last weekend.

In their statement, COFEK Program Officer Ms Caroline Njue said they had received numerous complaints regarding the concert in which revelers were charged Sh 30,000 for VVIP, Sh 15,000 for VIP and Sh 8,000 for regular tickets.

She also invited revelers who attended the concert and had complaints to contact COFEK with evidence of attendance, including the payments they made.

“We will then analyze the complaints and raise them with the event organizers. If we don’t secure satisfactory responses, COFEK will take decisive action which may include a class action lawsuit on behalf of the complainants,” said Ms Njue.

Following the much-hyped and awaited concert, complaints began streaming in online during and after Boys II Men performed.

Revelers complained of overcrowding, poor sound quality, screens not working for revelers who couldn’t see the stage and poor location set up with too few tents, food stands and washrooms.

One reveler told COFEK that the location had 6 toilets, 5 food vendors and poor seating and tent set up for regular ticket holders.

In one video, revelers could be heard chanting “fix the screens” as Boys II Men performed, while others had to stand on top of their seats to be able to record videos on their phone so they could watch the performance.

Social media was abuzz with complaints that only VVIP ticket holders enjoyed the concert as their set up was very different from the seating offered to regular ticket holders.

Nairobi News previously reported that the organizers of the concert expected 6,000 people at the Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi. 1,800 VVIP (600) and VIP tickets were sold.

However, according to a complaint sent to COFEK, the event location was too full with people squeezing past each other and security was overwhelmed. There were also claims of pickpockets having a field day at the concert.

While COFEK intends on filing a class action suit against the organizers in what they claim was a raw deal for Kenyans due to overbooking and poor planning, the organization has often been accused of being big on barking but having no bite in actually getting anything done for Kenyan consumers.

It remains to be seen how far they will go with this lawsuit should it come down to it as they are often very vocal on social media but not active in reality.