Dear artistes, we’re sorry for the delayed Nairobi Festival payments – CEC Silantoi
The Nairobi County Executive Committee (CEC) for Inclusivity, Public Participation and Customer Service Ms Susan Silantoi has assured artistes who performed during the Nairobi Festivals that their dues have been approved.
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The CEC said on Thursday in a phone interview with Nairobi News that the county was solving the internal problems processing the funds, an issue that has been solved.
“There was an internal problem in processing the funds but we are now on top of things. We had been given three months to process and disburse the funds to the contractors, and I believe that we are still within our timeline,” Ms Silantoi said.
She added that going forward, the county has come up with a mechanism that will ensure the county’s artists performing, in any event, will be paid within the shortest time possible.
“Currently our payments have been approved but I cannot tell the specific time when they should expect to be paid. We really apologise for the delay and in future, we will ensure this will not happen again.”
Ms Silantoi’s input comes hours after the Governor asked them to solve the issues surrounding the payment within the shortest time possible.
Early this month, several artistes who graced the inaugural Nairobi Festival Cultural week took to social media to protest the delay, asking the county Governor Johnson Sakaja to intervene.
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According to musician Arrowbwoy, his attempts to get his money proved futile as the company hired to contract him claimed they had not received payments from the Nairobi County government.
“Dear our Governor Sakaja Johnson, mambo imechemka huku nje (things have reached a boiling point out here). Since we performed at the Nairobi Festival in December, we have not been paid. I was contracted by Homeboyz Agency. My team has tried a couple of times reaching out to Homeboyz about the payment, the response is that they have not also been paid by the county…” said Arrowbwoy.
The festival was held in December at the revamped Uhuru Park, attracting thousands of residents.
The 50 local artists who performed during the festival include Wakadinali, Jua Cali, King Kaka, and H_eart The Band.
Over 35 disc jockeys from Nairobi were also hired to perform on three main stages set up for the festival.
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