KFCB nabs matatus playing obscene music videos

A crackdown on Public Service Vehicles (PSV) showing obscene content has begun in Mombasa as the Kenya Film Classification Board flexes its muscles.

The crackdown comes in the wake of concerns by parents, clerics and the civil society  over loud, lewd music and pornographic content in videos being shown in matatus.

Quick action by police, KFCB officers and the public resulted in the arrest and detention of a  matatu plying the Mtwapa-GPO route on Monday.

The matatu, christened ‘2 Proud’, had been playing obscene music videos on Sunday afternoon, usually a family day.

Pleas from the passengers to stop the videos fell on deaf ears as the driver and a tout  threw out two complaining passengers.

One of the passengers sent a text message to KFCB Coast region manager Bonventure Kioko who swung into action.

Jason Murimi, the complainant, said he was with his family including a 10-year-old daughter, when the obscene music video was playing.

“Inside, together with other passengers we protested and asked the driver to stop playing the obscene video but he refused. Imagine what my kids saw. This is madness,” Murimi said.

Officers from the National Police Service and KFCB on Monday morning patiently waited for the matatu, whose registration number had been noted.

 The matatu was stopped at the Mtwapa roadblock and the operators detained at Mtwapa police station.

The driver and conductor were expected to be arraigned in court Tuesday with exhibiting unclassified video content against section 12 (1) and (2) of the Films and Stage Plays Act CAP 222.

“This is the start of action. No more talk. We would like all matatus to have the TV screens removed because they have failed to show decency,” said Kioko after the arrest.

Notorious matatus are the ones plying the Mtwapa-GPO, Bamburi-Ferry and Tudor-Ferry routes.

Kioko said school going girls stay at particular matatu stages for hours waiting for specific matatus.

“They know what they are looking for in those matatus. These mostly play these pornographic videos,” said Kioko.

Irene Mwaganda, a passenger, said the crackdown should continue to save children from further moral decay.

“Some passengers have high blood pressure and don’t need loud music but these matatu operators are too rude to listen to our pleas. When they call for you they are very humble, but once you are in they change,” said Mwaganda.

Another passenger said sometimes school girls enter such matatus and go back and forth in them, spending more than three hours.

“Parents think their children are at school yet the children are in matatus going round,” said the female passenger.

Kioko said this is one of the contributing factors to poor performance in education in Mombasa.

Matatu Owners Association Coast coordinator Salim Mbarak said they have warned Saccos against such obscene music.

“We support the removal of these TV screens in matatus. Those obscene videos cannot be watched,” said Mbarak. He said it is against African culture to have show obscenities in public.

“It brings the sector a bad image. Can these matatu operators watch such obscene videos with their mothers and fathers?” said Mbarak.