Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja through Suzanne Silantoi, the Public Participation Customer care has revealed that artists who performed at the Nairobi Festival will be paid by the end of this month.
In an exclusive interview with Mpasho, Silantoi explained that the delay in payment has been occasioned by the long process of clearing funds at the county level.
During the interview, she disclosed that their payments are going to be released in two weeks and admitted that the process is taking longer due to the internal payment process.
"Everything in the county takes so much time to be paid and we are working with finance to shorten the process since the artists are alleging that we are not paying them."
She also revealed that there are more events to come and she trusts that the payments will be released.
"We are doing our best to make sure that the artists who performed are paid because the narrative of government not paying people would not end till it's done and we are pushing from our side," she added.
The statement comes days after musician Arrow Bwoy called out the Nairobi governor over pending performance pay.
“Dear our Governor Sakaja, mambo imechemka huku nje. Since we performed at the Nairobi festival in December, we have not been paid,” the musician said.
Arrow Bwoy stood up for his fellow artists and people who performed after revealing that, Homeboyz Agency contracted him for the event, but neither his team nor himself had received word of when to expect the payment despite repeatedly asking for their dues.
Last year, Governor Sakaja announced that the annual Nairobi festival is held every December to showcase and celebrate Nairobi for the city it is.
"In December we will set aside some streets to display culture, food, creativity, have the ng'anya awards for the best-done matatus, have rugby, football, and basketball tournaments and other activities,” he said then.
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