The retrogressive laws contained in the Film and Stage Plays Act of 1962 (revised in 2012), otherwise known as Cap 222, have seen creative work banned in Kenya and proven the proverbial saying "no prophet is accepted in his hometown”, to be true.
This is especially given the global support for films emerging from Kenya, including the premiere of Softie, a documentary film directed by Sam Soko, at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where it bagged the special jury award for editing.
The recent big break by the award-winning Kenyan film director Wanuri Kahiu in Hollywood is a clear indication that there is an urgent need for revisiting CAP 222 and the Kenya Film Classification Board’s (KFCB), guidelines, which are underpinned by colonial undertones intended to limit the Freedom of Expression when first assented in 1962.
Wanuri will be directing The Black Kids - a film adapted from Christina Hammonds Reed’s upcoming debut, a Young Adult novel - a feat recently announced by the Gotham Group.
Though she has continued to enjoy massive support globally for her successful creative work, Wanuri and her Co-Petitioner, the Creative Economy Working Group, remain in court, battling to have a complete lift on a ban imposed by KFCB on her movie Rafiki, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 - the first ever Kenyan movie to do so!
Laws used to ban films, art and music in Kenya are old colonial laws that continue to curtail Freedom of Expression, and in particular, the right to Artistic Freedom in a country perceived to be among the most progressive democracies in Africa.
These laws created before our 2010 Constitution, are based on sedation laws used against Pan Africanists such as Kwame Nkuruma, Jomo Kenyatta, C.L.R. James and George Padmore in the 1930s in London. Under these laws, authorities would disrupt work, dismantle the printing press that created journals circulated across the UK and Africa. The use of such sedition laws to ban artistic work continues to date.
These and many other draconian laws have seen Kenya lose some of our greatest talents and minds, such as Kenya’s greatest public intellectuals, Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o, whose work was banned, jailed for 1 year without trial or charge and exiled after he created Ngaahika Ndeenda(I will marry when I want- a comedy story about scarce politics, marriages and power dynamics) a tradition KFCB continues to practice to date.
A call to repeal The Films and Stages Plays Act (CAP 222)
The Films and Stage Plays Act (CAP 222) bestows unconstitutional powers on the Kenya Film Classification Board that amount to the curtailing of fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the constitution, and must therefore be repealed, as follows;
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Section 4 of the Act forbids any person from making a film within Kenya for public exhibition or sale except under the terms and conditions of a filming licence issued by the licensing officer. This section criminalizes expression through filmmaking on grounds that have no proximate relation to Article 33(2) of the constitution.
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Section 6 of the Act limits the freedom of filmmakers to seek, receive or impart information or ideas as well as their freedom of artistic creativity. This section is unconstitutional as it delegates uncontrolled and absolute discretion, to issue or refuse to issue a filming licence, on the Kenya Film Classification Board. The licensing officer may also impose any conditions as he may think fit regardless of most officers having no background in film making. Besides, there is no objective criterion in section 6, for the issuance of licences, rendering the process subjective and shrouded in mystery.
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On alterations and additions to films, Section 7(1) and (2) restrict creativity of filmmakers to make any changes in the film scenes, without a prior application in writing to the licensing officer for permission to do so. An action of moving even a chair in a scene can warrant withdrawal of the licence by KFCB.
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Section 9 of the Act limits freedom of expression by allowing armed policemen to intervene in the making of films.
These restrictions limit the freedom of expression of filmmakers by criminalizing the making of films which amount to the silencing of voices and an impediment to economic growth at large.
Freedom of Expression is not a luxury, it's freedom and must be safeguarded by everyone especially those in our creative spaces, Freedom of Expression is enshrined in the Constitution hence everyone should respect, uphold and defend it.
