Play Kenyan content — Uhuru tells the media

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday urged the media to focus on promoting Kenyan content especially during this time of crisis.

Speaking during his Labour Day address at State House, the Head of State said it was imperative to protect what makes Kenya Kenyan.

He noted that this was the perfect opportunity to promote Kenyan artistes adding that they will in turn build the media after Coronavirus leaves us.

“To survive in this pandemic, we must look inwards.  We must protect what makes Kenya Kenyan.  And as media dominates our living rooms and mobile phones, I appeal to them to think only of our country.  Play Kenyan history, Kenyan music, Kenyan soap operas, Kenyan news and Kenyan everything.

“If the media plays Kenyan content, Kenyan content will build media after Corona.  We have a peculiar opportunity to promote our filmmakers, and artists during this time of confinement,” said the President.

Adding: “Let us use it to create a Kenyan culture of nationalism.”

In recent weeks, Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) CEO has urged Kenyan musicians to churn clean content, saying you do not have to produce immoral content to get views online.

For the past few months, the nature of music being churned out by some Kenyan artistes has attracted praise and criticism in equal measure.

While some artistes have been lauded for their creativity and sensible verses, others have been bashed for promoting promiscuity and making sex the centre of their content.

When King Kaka released ‘Wajinga Nyinyi’, it was a breath of fresh air in the industry.

It was a wakeup call to the entire nation and even politicians felt its impact.

Many praised him for being bold enough to point out obvious evils in society but soon afterwards, he reported that he was receiving death threats.

In the same year, we had songs like Tarimbo which was quickly flagged for appearing to promote rape.

Mutua has often served the purpose of a moral cop and an ambassador of clean content.

Recently, he lauded comedian Henry Desagu for his content saying it is both hilarious and informative.

“One doesn't have to be dirty to be famous. Henry Desagu is hilarious and his content is great,” he said.