Raha Fest has threatened to suspend future entertainment events in Kenya following the chaos that rocked its Uhuru Gardens event on New Year’s Eve.

The organizers of the popular music event, in a heavily-worded statement, regretted the violence by attendees without tickets who forcefully stormed the venue, terming it ‘disappointing, regretful, and retrogressive’.

Citing the recent trends witnessed in the country culminated by the anti-government protests which resulted in the coining of popular hashtags such as ‘OccupyParliament’, Raha Fest threw brickbats at Kenyans for the ‘occupy’ mentality, reiterating that it was creating an unhealthy sense of ‘entitlement' during events.

They cautioned that the said attitude poses a danger to artists, organizers, and all stakeholders in similar events which ultimately paints Kenya as an unsafe environment and host destination.

“We write this, admitting that Raha Fest of 31st December 2024 might be our last event in Kenya...As has become customary in recent times, we have 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," read the statement.

"This behaviour poses immense danger for all, especially people who have spent their hard-earned money to pay for these events. This entitlement poses immense danger to the artists, who must perform in a safe and secure environment, potentially seeing Kenya as an unsafe environment for them. This entitlement poses immense danger to organizers, security personnel, vendors, sponsors, and investors, to name a few.”

The organizers acknowledged the successes of past events since the start of 2024 where renowned international artists like Davido, King Promise, Ruger, Ayra Starr and Daliwonga have yielded favourable results in the music arena, wondering why some people chose to throw everything under the bus on the last day of the year.

Raha Fest regretted how despite the presence of international headliners and stringent security protocols on the last day of the festivities headlined by Jamaican Singer Shenseea, rowdy youths managed to breach the security, force down gates and barriers and attack the staff.

"As a brand, we have never compromised on standards. Our first Raha Fest in March 2024, which had Davido and King Promise as headliners, set the standard on what festivals should be in Kenya. We proceeded to organize other events in the same year; Raha Rave (headlined by Ruger), Ayra Starr’s live-streamed event, and Raha Pull-up (headlined by Daliwonga), leading to a 4-day Raha December program. At all these events, we never compromised on standards, despite the immense challenges of organizing these events in Kenya,” Rah Fest noted.

The four-day event featuring the stellar lineup, including Tanzanian hitmaker Ali Kiba was overshadowed by an unforeseen melee leading to a standoff with the authorities.

Videos seen by Citizen Digital showed concertgoers scampering for safety with police officers manning the event forced to lob teargas canisters to disperse crowds and restore order.

Both Ali Kiba and Shenseea (whose performance was disrupted a few minutes after she hit the stage, to the disappointment of her fans) have come out to regret the occurrences.

The "Hit and Run" hitmaker managed to perform only two songs before the situation became untenable.

 “Now, Kenya I’m a lil mad at y’all ngl!” She wrote on her official social media handle.

Ali Kiba who was forced to cut short his performance amidst a huge cloud of teargas smoke stated: "Experienced teargas for the first time in my life, but the show must go on! #RAHAFest - Hapa Amani Tu," he shared.