The Luo Festival, a highly anticipated event, has been cancelled this year. According to reliable sources, the cancellation was due to poor ticket sales, and preparations have not been underway for the past three weeks, unlike previous years.
Although organizers have not made an official announcement, it is clear that the festival will not be taking place at the Ngong Race Course as planned.
The event is usually organized by Arena Media, a company reportedly owned by Lang’ata MP Phelix Odiwuor, also known as Jalang’o. However, the MP has faced opposition in recent weeks following his falling out with ODM party leader Raila Odinga.
Jalang’o and seven other ODM legislators met with President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, earlier this year without the approval of their party, which caused them to come under heavy criticism from the party’s top leadership and supporters.
Despite the criticism and alienation by his party, Jalang’o has reiterated his commitment to serving the people of Lang’ata. He has emphasized that his visit to State House was focused on bringing development to his constituency and not politics.
“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.
However, many ODM supporters perceived Jalang’o’s actions as a betrayal of his party leader and political outfit that sponsored him to Parliament.
