Ababu Namwamba meets Colonel Mustafa, assures him of govt support
Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba on Wednesday met Kenyan musician Colonel Mustafa, days after the artiste’s financial plight made news. The once legendary hit maker revealed he had fallen on hard times.
His situation, he revealed, had been worsened by the need to take care of his ailing mother who is battling stage 2 Lymphoma cancer.
Mr Namwamba, who is the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, met with the artiste, assured the artiste of the government’s support to enable him get his life back on track.
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“We have heard your challenges, and as a Ministry, I want to assure you that we are here to walk with you in this challenging phase. We have put together a package for you that will ensure that you are back on your feet, making music and entertaining us,” said Namwamba who was accompanied by Principal Secretary Ismail Maalim.
“We want to see you making more music, inspiring the younger generation of artists and nurturing them to stardom. The move you took to ensure that your mother receives proper health care is one to admire, and for that, we shall stand with you,” the CS said.
Namwamba further said any royalties owed to Colonel Mustafa for his music will be sorted as part of Talanta Hela’s initiative.
“This is what we intend to achieve through our #TalantaHela initiative. We want to ensure that our artistes’ intellectual property rights are guaranteed to enable them to continue to live well, earning from their creativity, upon exiting the active stage,” Namwamba said.
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Colonel Mustafa’s plight became public knowledge after a video of him working at a construction site was leaked online. Kenyans expressed shock that the rapper who once enjoyed fame and fortune had now been reduced to doing menial jobs to make ends meet.
As a result, several high profile figures and the general public responded with financial contribution as well as having a mobile money number set up to fund raise for Colonel Mustafa.
Within days more than Sh600,000 was raised through the paybill number. Last week, it also emerged that Colonel Mustafa’s friends and fans had raised more than Sh1 million for the musician to get him and his family back on track.
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