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Moral cop Mutua on the spot over his office tenure


Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) Chief Executive Dr. Ezekiel Mutua is battling accusations of planning to extend his term in office without falling due process.

In a letter to ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru that has been seen by Nairobi News, the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) says Mutua, who is commonly referred to as the ‘moral policeman’ orchestrated a plan to extend his term in office before his current term had expired.

Mutua’s second term expires on October 25, 2021.

SCAC further claim Dr. Mutua discussed with the board members the possibilities of renewing his contract for another three years before the current one expires in three months’ time.

SCAC whose mandate is to provide directions for effective governance and oversight of State corporations, now wants the CS to crack the whip by kicking Dr Mutua out of the office with immediate effect and disciplinary action taken against the KFCB Board.

The State Advisory said members of the board “knowingly convened to deliberate and make a determination on a matter that is already pre-determined and not feasible”.

SCAC declared illegal any decision to renew Mutua’s contract for a third term.Mutua a former journalist, was first elected to the helm of KFCB in October 2015 and his term was set to expire in October 2018.

The contract was renewed by KFCB Board in October for another three years with the blessings of SCACC who stated that the renewal was based on Dr Mutua’s performance in line with Section 11(C) of the Films and Stage Plays Act Cap 222 and Section 5(3) of the State Corporations Act Cap 446. Reviewing his scorecard in 2018, SCAC gave him a rating of 86.7% and 99.1% for the Financial Year 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 respectively.

Contacted, Dr. Mutua termed the claims by SCAC as sideshows he isn’t interested in.

“I’m concentrating on my responsibility of protecting children from harmful content and I have no time for sideshows,” stated Mutua who recently revealed discussions are in place to merge KFCB and Kenya Films Commission to become one entity.

SCAC claims come at a time a group of artists led by comedian Eric Omondi say they will petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to remove Mutua from office for ‘publicly blasting them other than helping them’.