By George Orido

The red carpet Kalasha awards ceremony was full of thrills and spills. Indeed, the set up was magnificent. But amidst the cheers and jeers there were controversial announcements met with boos. When Jeff Koinange’s Capital Talk was announced as the Best Talk Show on Kenyan TV during the Kalasha Awards last week, there was thunderous applause from the crowd. But when the same station was declared the ‘Kituo Halisi’ Award winner, the annoucement was met with loud boos.

So, why did they applaud Jeff and his flagship talk show and not the station itself? One can only argue that they did not agree with this last verdict.

One of the discontented guests, who did not wish to be named, said the ‘Kituo Halisi Award’, meant for a station that supports local content in film and drama, should has not gone to the station. He pointed that the station does not have local TV series on drama or comedy.

"This is a mockery of the highest order because it is open knowledge which stations today strive to support local productions," adds Roy Ogolla the Executive Director of Petad, a theatre organisation in Nairobi.

This development made people ask what other elements in the whole awards may have contributed to what may be perceived as bias.

Papa Shirandula a.k.a Charles Bukeko ran away with the Best Actor in the TV series yet he stars in Papa Shirandula — a TV comedy that also produced the Best Performance in a Comedy taken by its support actor Kenneth Gachoya (Njoro).

Was this not duplication and confusion leaving other nominees with a bitter taste in the mouth?

conflict of interest

As if that is not enough, the composition of the Nomination Academy had no sense of conflict of interest. Wangeci Murage who is M-Net East Africa Programme Manager unashamedly sat in a jury that nominated an M-NET production, Changes, for the Best TV Drama. Prof Kimani Njogu, who is an active film man under Twaweza also produced Simiyu Barasa’s History Of Film which won and yet still sits in the academy.

Another curious move by the academy was to reduce the public participation from 20 per cent last year to 10 per cent this year — a move that gave the elite academy more teeth and exclusive say on the final results.

These incidences will only serve to ruin the reputation of an otherwise very good initiative out to reward the best efforts in TV and film production.

Kalasha must remain above board and like Caesar’s wife, be beyond reproach to achieve its objectives of spearheading growth in Kenya’s film industry.