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.
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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.