Poor ticket sales force cancellation of Luo festival
The highly anticipated 2023 Luo Festival, scheduled for today at the Ngong Race Course, has been cancelled, according to reliable sources. Although event organizers are yet make an official public announcement on this development, it has emerged that no preparations have been going for the past three weeks, unlike in previous years.
Sources privy to the matter have revealed that the event has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. At least three major artistes who were scheduled to perform at the festival, have already confirmed their participation in different shows in other parts of the country. Among them is Prince Indah, Elisha Toto and Odongo Swag.
The event, which is run by Arena Media, a company reportedly owned by Lang’ata MP Phelix Odiwuor aka Jalang’o, has faced massive opposition on social media in recent weeks. This follows Jalang’o’s falling out of favour with ODM party leader, Raila Odinga.
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Jalang’o’s troubles started when, alongside seven ODM legislators early this year, he met President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, without the approval of his party.
The MP came under heavy criticism from the party’s top leadership and supporters although he would later explain that his meeting with the president only focused on his development agenda for Lang’ata Constituency and not politics.
“The electorates will be smart enough or are already smart enough, and they already know that there is politics and there is development. My State House visit was about bringing development closer to the people and not about politics,” he said at the time.
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But despite all the criticism and his alienation by his party, Jalang’o has kept reiterating his commitment to serving the people of Lang’ata.
“If today, for example, I was with Baba in a rally and there is no water in Lang’ata, the people of Lang’ata will not care what I said in that rally, they will care about water in Lang’ata. If today there is water in Lang’ata and I didn’t show up at Baba’s rally, my ardent supporters, ODM supporters will not care that I was not in the rally,” he is on record for saying.
That said, the first-time MP has ever since been at pains to explain what many supporters of Mr Odinga perceived as Jalang’o’s betrayal of his party leader and the political outfit that sponsored him to Parliament.