TV personality Willis Raburu was trending on Sunday after a failed Gengetone Festival in Machakos over the weekend.
After a section of Netizens attacked him, alleging he was the force behind the poorly organised event, Raburu took to Instagram and in a video said it was a lesson learnt, terming it a ‘rare teachable moment’.
“The Gengetone Festival was not my event. I attended basically as an emcee and as an upcoming artiste,” he said.
Raburu said when things went south, he opted to step back with his whole crew.
He said the event was poorly organised, and even when the time the main performers came, they refused to go to the stage, claiming they had not been paid all their money.
“Artistes told me they wanted to perform but they had not been paid the other half of the money,” he said.
“The rule for most artistes is that you pay half (of the agreed amount) before the event, then pay the other half before they perform.”
He said he told the artistes not to perform if they had not been paid.
“I told them, ‘If you guys step on this stage and perform, then we will never break the cycle of people being taken advantage of, more so Gengetone artistes,'” he said.
Raburu urged organisers to respect artistes and not take them for granted. He also urged artistes to speak up.
“I hope this starts the conversation that artistes need to be respected, need to be paid, and they should demand it and not be quiet.”