Set for Safari: Gacheru allays fears over preps for world's toughest rally

Source: Capital FM Kenya
Author: Omondi Onyatta

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 26 - World Rally Championships (WRC) Safari Rally CEO Charles Gacheru has assured that everything is moving as per schedule for this week's event set for Naivasha.

Gacheru said the new team in charge of organising and staging the rally has worked meticulously and closely with various stakeholders to create a memorable event.

"Because there have been...shall I call them... stories about the rally...so let me make things clear about the rally. When I was given this job, I wondered about the time but then what I did was to cut the elephant into pieces and to ask myself what the rally actually constitutes...and so we started attacking those bits one by one," Gacheru said.

The CEO added that the new team has burned the midnight oil to put the different parts of the Safari Rally in place, including arrival of foreign drivers, preparing the stages and the service park, among others.

"The first big ingredient is of course the drivers...you need the drivers. You need the drivers to be available...to travel to Kenya. You need the local drivers on board and that is something we must do better. We need to involve more of our local drivers through the KNRC (Kenya National Rally Championships)," Gacheru said.

He added: The second thing is the playground...the stages in which we rally. Kedong, Soysambu, Geothermal and Hell's Gate and so on and so forth. We have had to do a lot of work in those stages in the last month to get those roads into rally condition."

He described the service park as the nerve centre of the rally, noting the importance of a solid Internet connection for effective communication.

"This is where they control the rally from. Even the start at Kasarani is controlled from rally control at Service Park. For that we need a dedicated connection, which Safaricom is offering us," he revealed.

Gacheru's assurance comes in the wake of fears that have bedeviled the global event in the past weeks.

First, there have been complaints that many of those who provided their services in past editions, in one way or another, are yet to be paid.

There have also been concerns over the slow pace of preparations.

Last week's resignation of event director Jim Kahumbura - who later rescinded his decision to exit - only added fuel to the fire.

Regardless, the drivers - including foreign - have been intensifying their preparations.

Various corporate partners have also jumped onto the Safari Rally ship by chipping in with different amounts of sponsorship.

The latest are telco giants Safaricom who on Monday afternoon unveiled a Ksh 36 million investment towards the rally.

Part of the sponsorship includes provision of 4G network connectivity through the five Cell on Wheels (COW), which will set up at Kedong, Hell's Gate and Soysambu.

Safaricom will also set up two fully equipped media centres installed with internet connectivity at the Service Park and Hells Gate.

Gacheru expressed gratitude to Safaricom for their support, noting that their contribution greatly aids the agenda to stage a memorable Safari Rally in recent times.

"This ensures that rally control can communicate with the vehicles and the hundreds of volunteers out in the field. It ensures we can communicate with Europe, with Kasarani and with WRC TV so they can beam the images from the rally to around the world," he said.

Speaking at the same time, Safaricom's Chief Financial Services officer Esther Waititu assured of the firm's commitment to Safari Rally for the many editions to come.

She further promised a special Easter treat as the rally reverts to its original date.

"This year, as the rally event returns to its original Easter holiday for the first time in 26 years, we aim to give Kenyans an exemplary East African holiday treat. We are equally proud to announce to our partners that we will continue supporting this event going forward," Waititu said.

The telco giant will further sponsor young Kenyan driver Hamza Anwar to the tune of Ksh 5 million as he competes in the WRC 3 category.

This year's edition has attracted 29 entries, including the Kenyan contingent of five-time winner of the Safari Rally and 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion, Carl 'Flash' Tundo, Equator Rally defending champion Karan Patel, Singh Vohra, Aarkif Virani, Hamza Anwar, Minesh Rathod, and Andrew Muiruri.