How Ruto walked into a copyright scandal

President William Ruto. [File, Standard] On August 12, last month, on the lawns of Kakamega's Masinde Muliro University, President William Ruto presided over the International Youth Day 2025 celebrations with the launch of Sinema Mashinani. The project was neatly packaged and sold as an ambitious project meant to inject new life into the country's struggling creative industry. But that launch, as The Standard has now uncovered, may soon leave the Head of State with egg on his face. Knowingly or unknowingly, President Ruto may have dragged the highest office in the land into a reputation-damaging and humiliating copyright scandal that could cost taxpayers millions of shillings to settle. A veteran videographer and filmmaker has tabled evidence claiming what the President launched that day was no government thinking or innovation at all, but his idea. And to stamp his seriousness, he's prepared to take that fight to court. Firmly on the spot is the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) under whose aegis the President launched the project that now exposes deep-seated theft of intellectual property embedded within state agencies and what could amount to outright breach of copyright. Joseph Mucheru, behind some of Kenya's most riveting local films, now claims Sinema Mashinani was lifted straight from his proposal, first tabled at the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) back in 2016, and the government, with blatant disregard for its own laws, launched it as its own. Mucheru says he watched in disbelief and with lots of difficulty as the Head of State pulled the curtain on what he insists was his creation without acknowledgment, without credit, and without pay. "It felt like a bad dream, Sinema Mashinani launched without anyone reaching out to me? Did he know what he was launching? Did the President's men mislead him to do this? A lot of questions crossed my mind," he says. "A project that I conceptualized, pitched with rigour to state officials, rejected and now launched without my knowledge or consent, total breach of trust and scandalous," Mucheru told The Standard in an interview. And so, did someone just mislead the President to launch someone else's concept without consent? A certificate of registration of copyright dated August 2, 2016, seen by The Standard, shows Sinema Mashinani was certified in the literary work category and numbered LT-13260 under brand name Soko TV by the Kenya Copyright Board. A certificate of registration shows that Soko TV is owned by Joseph Mwangi Mucheru and Ann Wangui Kingori, with their offices located along Raphta Road in Westlands, Nairobi. We put this to government spokesman Dr Isaac Mwaura, asking what safeguards are in place to vet projects of this nature before they reach the President's desk, but he offered no response. Documents in our possession show that the concept Sinema Mashinani was a detailed design to bring film to grassroots communities and foster local creative talent. "It is what the older generation may recall as watoto kaa chini concept. We were looking at reviving the culture of open-air film screenings reminiscent of the 1980s and '90s, where movies were shown from trucks at village centers," explains Mucheru. "Our goal was to set up a project that would inspire films made by locals, acted in vernacular languages, and incorporate themes that resonate deeply with communities. We intended to roll out mobile cinema units on vehicles to screen even in the remotest areas, and this, if you look keenly at what was purportedly launched by the President, is word-for-word drawn from my works." During the Kakamega occasion, President Ruto launched a state-of-the-art mobile cinema truck fitted with a 53-square-metre LED screen, generator, and sound system under the Sinema Mashinani initiative in a colourful event graced by top officials including Cabinet Secretaries Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives, MSMEs) and Salim Mvurya (Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports), Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, and Youth Affairs PS Jacob Fikirini. And here's where it all started. To first bring this concept to the government's knowledge, Mucheru first sat with former KFC CEO Lizzie Chongoti, walking her through a plan worth Sh70 million to take cinema to every county with mobile trucks. "Lizzie truly liked the idea, you'd tell, but she shelved it at the time for lack of funds. She said her budget could not contain the project, she didn't reject it," observes Mucheru. The Standard contacted Chongoti for comment on these claims but she declined, saying she was not the right person to comment since she had long left the commission. Mucheru says he did not lose hope with his brainchild; he pushed on, and as fate would have it, he landed a deal with Tanzanian authorities. "I met a Tanzanian official by chance and an informal engagement ensued that would lead to a high-profile visit to the neighbouring country where we launched Sinema Mashinani in the same spirit we had planned to launch in Kenya," explains Mucheru. "We launched it in a region called Manyara and it was super successful, we were basically moulding cinema from the grassroots," he says. After the Tanzania feat, Mucheru and his team of filmmakers returned to Kenya to continue with other projects. In the early days when Dr Ezekiel Mutua took the reins of leadership at the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB), among his earliest tasks was to breathe new life into the filming industry and consequently he appealed to creatives to pitch new ideas. In Kenya, the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) mandate is to promote, market, and develop Kenya's film industry while the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) mainly focuses on regulation and classification. "When KFCB announced this, we were elated. By all standards, this was good news to filmmakers. I was among the first to pitch my concept, and KFCB also liked it and our engagement started," explains Mucheru. Mucheru says his team was lucky to get the greenlight to conduct a pilot project in Isiolo that would open more avenues. And at this stage, their concept caught the eye of Japanese giant Canon, a multinational that specialises in imaging and optical products, interested to join the partnership. "We were able to convince Canon Central and North Africa to come on board, they were excited and willing to take up the project." At the time, Bishop Jackson Kosgei was the chair of the KFCB board while Nelly Muluka was in charge of communications, a key nerve centre that engaged creatives like Mucheru and particularly on the Sinema Mashinani initiative. The Standard has seen letters of communication copied to Muluka and the current acting KFCB CEO Paskal Martin Opiyo, and photographic evidence that proves that the duo knew the ins and outs of the cinema project. We contacted the two; Opiyo did not answer our questions, but Muluka dismissed the enquiry on the phone, saying: "I am just an employee of KFCB. Please speak to my bosses. KFCB has an acting CEO and a chair of the board; I am not any of them." Current KFCB board chair John Njogu did not respond to our enquiries. Former KFCB CEO Dr Ezekiel Mutua acknowledged knowing the issue but requested not to share his comments with the media. "I know everything about Sinema Mashinani and I know Mucheru. I will speak to him directly," stated Mutua. In Kenya, copyright is governed by the Copyright Act, 2001 (as amended), safeguarding creatives from exploitation and granting authors exclusive rights over among other things, reproduction, distribution and performance. The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) is the body mandated by law to enforce these rights.In the event there are violations, offenders face both civil and criminal penalties, including fines, damages, and even imprisonment. Julius Miiri, an advocate of the High Court, says Mucheru has more than one legal avenue to pursue his case. "Armed with his copyright documents, he could move to court and place an injunction to stop the state from proceeding with the initiative or he could sue for damages altogether," explains Miiri. "He could also go for declaration orders that would install him as the real owner of his works," adds Miiri. David Katee, an intellectual property lawyer, says cases of this ilk have increased in the recent past. "It's a sad state of affairs that every day we are seeing more and more violations of the copyright law in Kenya. Even with existing laws governing this space this keeps happening," says Katee. "What we need is serious enforcement of the law and also sensitise people that they should and must come forward anytime there is a breach. I work closely with creatives and I can assure you a lot of work goes into what they do and this must be respected," asserts Katee.

How Ruto walked into a copyright scandal

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