The Safari Sevens tournament which was set to take place next month in Kenya has been cancelled due to political unrest.

“This will be the first time that the event, which started in 1996, will not be taking place,” said Kenya Rugby Union Chairman, Richard Omwela.

 “The current political climate in the country is not conducive for us to have an event of this magnitude. The best option is not to have the event because we can’t guarantee teams, fans and sponsors their security,” reported The Star newspaper in Kenya.

He said they had tried to move the event to the second and third weeks of November, however with the World Sevens Series kicking off in Dubai in early December it would be challenging to accommodate teams.

Michael Kwambo, Communications and Media Manager of The Kenya Rugby Union, told Tourism Update that the current political climate was not favourable for hosting an event of this size, especially with the recent turbulence over the elections.

“We lost out on an opportunity from a socio-economic point of view. Many would have benefited from the tournament, hotels and so on,” added Kwambo.

The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon was set to take place on October 29 but has been postponed until November 26.

 Josephine Schingomonbi, Call Centre Agent at Standard Chartered, said as the elections were scheduled too close to the time of the marathon, they had decided to postpone the event.

Kenya was also set to host The Netherlands v Kenya WCL cricket matches at the Nairobi Gymkhana club-grounds on October 6 and 8. However the events were relocated to Buffalo Park in East London, South Africa, when the Netherland Cricket Board raised concerns over security in Kenya with the International Cricket Council.

Kenya lost the right to host the 2018 African Nations Championship, decided by the Confederation of African Football, who met in September. CAF’s decision to strip Kenya of the right to host the tournament was because the country would not be ready to host the event in January.

Morocco will replace Kenya as hosts of the fifth African Nations Championship, reports Times Live.