Tanzania. Lil Wayne! Am sure many

of you have already asked the one

question we all ask when we hear

an artiste is visiting our neighbours;

Why don’t they come to Kenya?

Well, I asked myself that same

question when I got wind of that

story although I already know the

answer to that. It was not long ago

when Kenya was the country of

choice for international celebrities.

From Lost Boyz, Coolio, Maxi Priest,

Shaba Ranks, Yellow Man, Gregory

Isaac, they all trooped to Kenya like

it was the latest celeb fad.

But over the years, the people

who used to look over the fence

whenever the celebrities came calling

are on a revenge mission, they have

turned the tide and there is no prize

for guessing who replaced them at

the fence.

From Jay Z, Sean Kingston, UB 40,

Beenie Man, Bric and Lace and yes,

even after dissing Kenya thrice Akon

still hit up Kampala and delivered

one hell of a show.

Speaking of Akon, it was while at

his show that it finally dawned on

me why Kenya is so dry in terms of

bringing international artistes into

the country.

In Tanzania and Uganda, the

corporate world has woken up, they

have realised that bringing a serious

international artiste is a good way

to offer their brands exposure and

hype. In Kampala, the war is between

mobile phone companies who have

loosened their wallets and are

sponsoring any artiste who promises

to pull a crowd.

I was told of a story that when

UB 40 hit Uganda, the competition

decided on Akon to counter and

when he failed to turn up, the

competition went on air with an

advert thus; “When we promise, we

deliver” that was enough to have

Akon sent for in a private jet to

make sure the ad lost meaning!

Another contributing factor

there are the promoters. Unlike

Kenya where someone wakes up,

coins a story that they are bringing

Akon and fools everyone from the

media to the corporates, promoters

in Uganda and Tanzania are serious

and yes, they have the money so

they are after building a name and

not money. They will also not leave

an artiste stranded in a hotel with

bills from here to the afterlife.

So as we start planning on how

we will travel to see Weezy F. Baby,

we should not be surprised about

what’s going on and why artistes are

dissing Kenya.