Following the arrest and subsequent court process of comedian Eric Omondi, the Wife Material star has apologized to the board and requested for an out-of-court settlement regarding the case. – By Sharon Maina.
The board keenly examined the Eric’s apology and request and is willing to settle the case through the Alternative Dispute Resolution on conditions:
That Eric Omondi will delete all the explicit content running on his online channels.
The program in contention dubbed “Wife material” is suspended until the case is heard and determined.
He was also given a condition that going forward, the producers of his program shall fully comply with the law and that no further explicit content shall be aired on his online platform and also if the producers of “wife material” wish to continue with the program, they shall apply for a filming license and shall submit to the board the script synopsis, storyboard and filming schedule for the approval before production and exhibition of the same.
Eric was also given a condition that the producers of the said program will share and submit the same examination and classification by the board for age appropriateness.
He was told that future productions shall strictly adhere to terms of the exhibition license from the board as stipulated in the law.
Eric committed to not exhibit or broadcast explicit content meant for public consumption on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and other platforms unless the same has been approved by the board in line with the conditions set in the out of court settlement.
He was also told that there shall be no more exhibition of content that promotes pornography or that portrays women and youths as sexual objects.
“Upon agreement of the above referenced terms, the Board shall withdraw the case against Eric Omondi and shall instead pursue an Alternative Dispute resolution mechanism. To this end, an industry-driven committee comprising of Jalang’o ,Churchill,Big Ted among others shall within 14 days from date hereof look at the said compliant against Eric Omondi and advise the board on the way” said Dr Ezekiel Mutua.
“Let me conclude by saying that from the public outrage and complaints filed with the board against explicit content, it’s clear that Kenyans are sick and tired of dirty content. The misuse of online platforms to exhibit unpalatable content must therefore cease. We urge our creative to think about their audiences especially children and endeavor to be responsible in the creation and exhibition of their content and ensure full compliance with the law.” He added.
Since most content creators do not know about the laws that govern content creation, the Kenya film classification board said that they will work with the industry driven self-regulation committee to create awareness about the law hence promote the creation of clean content.
