Kenya: Needed - Better Planning for ASK Shows

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The Nation (Nairobi)

OPINION
5 September 2008
Posted to the web 6 September 2008

Njuguna Mutonya
Nairobi

Agricultural shows have of late taken a turn for the worse, and this is why I did not attend the Mombasa one last week.

I was torn between wallowing in the dust amid the noise and bustling crowd at the showground and watching the last day of an adaptation of Ipi Tombi, the epic South African musical at Little Theatre Club. I chose the latter and was not disappointed.

Alistair Lowe and Joel Godiah, like conjurors of yore, produced what is perhaps the most creative rendition of the musical, complete with Swahili embellishments. Wapi Wasichana? (Where are the girls?) was a resounding success.

At the end of the well attended extravaganza in aid of Wema Centre, there was no doubt in anybody's mind that there would be a rerun.

And I will watch any reruns because, if you have watched Ipi Tombi, you should know it is irresistible and evergreen.

I have, like everyone else, good memories of the Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) shows, but there is need for a rethink of the whole concept to make it relevant to modern business and entertainment needs.

Over the years, we have watched the quality of leadership at the shows get compromised, what with the involvement of political interest groups, which started during the Moi era.

Some of the officials who can hardly run a chicken farm have, beyond expectation, risen to the helm of the previously prestigious affair.

So much so that today, the show has been turned into a half-baked, cultureless affair, in which speculators angle for a quick buck without any consideration for brand or image.

I have served as a Mombasa show judge for a year, and I should know the ethical horrors.

People who have lived in the coastal town long enough should remember with nostalgia the private sector-led ASK initiatives of the early 1990s, which were managed professionally and profitably.

In my high school days, I watched at the Nairobi International Show the musical giants of the day - Osibisa, Musi O. Tunya, Baba Gaston, Bana Ngenge and our evergreen Maroon Commandos in between viewing with awe and inspiration Kenya One -- an aircraft put together by a Nyeri mechanic.

And these are not just gripes, but I believe that anything that serves to perpetuate a cause should have the ability to maintain the interest of its admirers even as it ages with grace.

That many Mombasa residents are no longer interested in the show, and go there only to regale themselves in beer is a clear indication of the lack of creativity on the ASK managers' part.

You may ask yourself where else one would find acres upon acres of prime land virtually lying idle year after year, waiting for five days of action every year amid dust, noisy music and beer drinking binges.

If one wishes to organise a beer festival, he/she should go to Bavaria and learn how the Oktoberfest is run. This is also where there is plenty of music excellence.

The ASK national management needs to swallow its pride and hire competent event and branding managers to make ASK's sustainable business concepts not a one-off event.

If you leave out the presidential tour of the Mombasa show, what is there?

It is a shame that the showground goes to sleep for 11 long months, save for two bars. And this in a town which craves quality and affordable entertainment for its youth in the form of amusement parks and sports stadiums.

The Government ought to extend the performance contracts to all cadres of its employees and demand that they create jobs and other opportunities for Kenyans so that Vision 2030 may be achieved.

It is almost obscene to allow this kind of waste when many people are ready to invest in the show.

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