Civic engagement requires active participation in democratic processes, including voter registration, voting, and holding institutions accountable through mechanisms like dispute resolution committees and reporting misconduct. Artists and content creators play a crucial role in civic education by making complex electoral processes relatable and accessible to ordinary citizens, particularly youth, through authentic storytelling and creative expression. The IBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) provides platforms for citizens to participate in electoral processes, report malpractices, and engage with electoral issues, while artists serve as 'rulers' who can shape public consciousness and drive social change through their creative work.
EQUITY CREATOR MASTERCLASS- THE FISHERMANS ART WORKSHOP & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - THE GARDEN BONDOAdded:
Number Fore speech.
lunch.
I had one speaker here saying that.
So you decide to make a change in your life.
All that we ask uh from the leaders is to create an enabling environment and to identify those people who can leaders who can do that. It's up to you the youth or it's up to the voter to vote wisely.
Kakito.
So that will be just a lunch for one day.
What happens for the remaining days.
So we should not be able to sell out our right to vote. Let's use it wisely.
this.
You vote with your conscious not with your stomach.
Very important. Now my clarion call this morning is that uh the youth wherever you are let us stand up and be registered as voters that movement of Niki in towns Several times a number of youth visited our office and the county.
So can we create a movement especially guided by the artists and musician because you have that ability of mobilizing people you can mobilize the youth pass the me the message let them see registration as a very critical stage I've said that this is after registration.
And what is required for you to register as a voter is what national identity card and a valid passport. If you opt to use a passport, then you go and register there.
So you take you register where you intend to go and vote.
You may wish to transfer your vote. That service is available though this time around we do it from the office. And also you can be able to check if you are a registered voter uh using the IBC portal. If you go to IBC portal, you can be able to do that. What's the link when I for verifying the status?
>> Okay, the link is verify.
>> Okay, thank you. The link is verify.c.k.
You simply search the the link verify.c.k.
Uh that is the link.
Uh if you registered recently, you might not be able to find your name. The reason being that the register is still being uh processed.
By the time we start another registration, that register will be ready and all people who registered as a voter during the recent concluded exercise.
Now another critical aspect that maybe I need to mention is that uh the question of disputes will always arise in any electoral process.
Disputes will always arise.
They can arise from maybe during the registration of voters someone can do it come out and raise a complaint that I applied to be registered as a voter but at the end of the day I'm not in the register.
So that one can be handled one by the registration officer who sits at the constituency office.
If you have such complaint you visit our office. The registration officer can be able to guide you on what you need to do.
Uh another important thing that uh what noting is that uh dispute can also arise during candidate registration is very popular this one nomination political parties they do their primaries during their primaries there could be complaints will arise and any Kenyan can always launch a complaint with the IBC or they can do it with the political party dispute uh resolution uh committee.
In IBC we have a dispute resolution committee which is headed by commissioners and also we have experts from the court will come and chair the panels that will hear those disputes.
Probably you approached a commission during a nomination and during that nomination for for some reason for some reason the returning officer declines to clear you.
Okay.
If the returning officer declines to clear that you can approach the IBC dispute resolution committee and launch a complaint.
that dispute resolution committee will sit and consider your look at the your complaint, look at the facts and they can be able to make such complaint to the IBC dispute resolution committee.
By law, the committee has between 10 and 14 days to make a determination.
Once they make a determination, that is not final.
Sometimes you may feel that you are not satisfied.
The law gives you a leeway. you can uh appeal by approaching a judicial court and lodge your complaint. Okay. So basically that is we can talk about the dispute resolution and there's a number of disputes which can come during the preparation of uh elections. Now from the boundaries which is equally a mandate by IBC disputes are likely to arise. But before we talk about disputes that come from the boundary delimitation.
The boundary delmentation is guided by law that between 8 and 12 years the commission is supposed to review boundaries.
In our case, we did uh our first boundaries. When did we review last the boundaries?
Who can remember when did we do the boundary review?
>> It was 20 what?
>> 2009 >> 2009.
>> Any different opinion?
Bonaro board. When did we do boundary review?
>> In the year 2010.
>> In the year 20110.
It's not far from 209.
20 2010 uh we did a review of boundaries and since that time we've not done any.
They passed that provision of the law 8 to 12. Yes.
Now that is a question which is really bothering Kenyans because Kenyans feel that in some areas they are highly populated and the representation is not equitable.
So because we do review with a boundary so that we have equitable representation.
So there is a demand for a review.
However, as a commission and this time around the commission is not in a position to do what? To do a review and there is a a good explanation to that. After 2022, uh the commission as an entity did not have commissioners.
The commission commissioner and by law the commission is the commissioners commissioners with any activity.
They must sit in plary pass a resolution for the boundaries to take place. Now the current position on boundary the commission uh gave an approach of uh doing it in phases.
The first phase what the commission has done is to do the preparation.
They've done a document to guide the review that is an operation plan. the technical part of it and they have collected data.
But because of the competing activities between now and 2027, it is not possible to focus on boundary review because boundary review is a very motive issue.
It requires an elaborate preparation engaging the public public participation.
Because of that, we've only done uh the technical aspects and we'll have it on hold immediately after the GE of 2027.
We will revert into the comprehensive of boundary review.
That message is very important. S that you interact with the people after the G.
Now boundary as a whole it is guided in law and uh you can find it in article 89.
uh it it actually states what the commission ought to do during boundary review. Another technical aspect which will make it not possible to review uh during the census of 20 what?
2020 209 sensors.
that says a report somebody went to court and challenged the validity of that particular report from the court declared that report invalid.
Now and during boundary review, population is a very critical parameter for determining the delimitation of constituencies because there's no avid document that the commission can rely on and that that's one reason that the commission had to put that one on hold. you cannot go against the law and proceed without obeying the legal position.
So ladies and gentlemen, allow me uh to conclude my presentation and before I do that uh quickly I want to talk about uh how can the citizens hold the commission into account?
How can the citizen hold the commission into account? You can hold the citizens into account one by participating actively in the electoral process because you cannot be able to hand I mean hold the commission into account without participating participate in the electoral uh processes and also if there are mult practices during that period report such such a thing and also to company registration. You are free to do what? To monitor. If it is election, you're free to monitor how we conduct what election. That's the only way you can hold the commission into account.
Make demands. Okay? push the commission to the limits so that we can be able to do the right thing. So there is no way we can be able to deepen democracy without working together with the citizens in every stage.
SA with those few remarks allow me to bring my presentation to the end. Thank you and be blessed.
There's one here.
>> Good morning.
You can call me Robinson Gem.
So according to we can report if there is some misconduct. So I was asking where do we take the report directly?
uh reporting or malpractice.
We have agencies that deal with any misconduct, abuse of the law. We have the office of uh the criminal investigation.
You can report such and if it is corruption related we can also report to the same office which will be taken up by the anti-corruption agencies and deal with s but also it's important to uh raise the same complaint to the commission. If let's say you are you want to raise a complaint about an officer in the field let's say in the constituency you have a leeway to do the reporting to the county elections manager if it is the county elections manager that has an issue you have a leeway to do it the commission directly we have a website that is where you can be able to write an email raise a complaint but If you're talking about issues that which are of criminal nature definitely you take it to the uh director of criminal investigation because it's a crime a crime will be dealt by the laws of the of the country just to add on what Mr. Juma has said there is the office of the on boardsman officially it's known as the commission on administrative justice I remember previously the MP fora used to head it thank you so much Bana Okubasu for those gratification there are so many places you can be able to uh report.
>> Good afternoon.
>> Good afternoon.
>> My name is My name is Fidel Juma.
I'm a storyteller. An African storyteller. Yes. So IBC it stands for Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. And uh from what you said, IBC is a body that governs the electoral process in Kenya. So I just want you to clarify what's the best advice you can give.
You as a citizen of Kenya, you are supposed to take part in every electoral process. Am I on the right track?
participating in an electoral process.
Uh it is a right that you've been given by the constitution.
It's not that uh one particular individual is donating that right to you. It is the constit that every citizen ought to take up.
If we are talking about uh voter registration, we are talking about voting.
Who to vote for? That is your right h demanding for certain actions from an electoral body and you have been given that by the constitution that's why I say that you are invited in every every electoral uh process so that you can make your voice to be heard.
Yes. Hello, my name is Aras, but they call me nati. I had a question. What if I was to vote today? I've casted my vote, then I realized I I I missed. Can I change?
Like, is there any way I can change my my voting?
Erh, we are now at the electoral during election election period.
You qualify to vote the six borrowed papers.
Yeah. President MP, women rep, MCA, Senator, Governor, six of them. And you go to the booth maybe officer.
spoiled then you cast the vote. But you have the right to do that uh not more than three times.
West Just a quick question. My name is Zach.
Uh, we've been voting, you know. So, I would want to know one thing. Uh, we've been having issues when we voting and then we get after.
So, what is that one thing that you're going to promise us this time?
Just one thing.
Uh one thing to encourage you to continue voting.
Very important.
Be part and parcel of the election process so that you witness what happens.
does not every stage from recruiting of polo visuals.
They are the youth.
Polling takes place in a polling station.
and the process happens transparently inj IBC into account by taking part in the electoral process and a deliberate thing is that Candidates who are participating, they are given a chance to have their agents in the polling station.
But citizens equally when you do the setup like this one.
Witness Commission.
The seals which shall used they made public. In fact the agents record them.
the polling. Then when it comes to counting empty ballot papers the media is allowed to be in the polling station and observers are allowed to be in the polling station. So that is the transparency we are talking about. So there is no particular activity which will take place without including the stakeholders. The stakeholders here they are agents of servers media and the members of the public.
So have confidence that the commission will not at any given point decide to tell you now for this particular activity we are going into a corner to do it ourselves.
We do it together and whoever alleges that mal practices happen then the due process will always do what follow because the law provides for that. The law in phys is that whenever there is any compet competition issues will come up. How do you address them? The law gives that particular procedure. but from the commission. The commission is very uh open.
That's why we're here to engage with the public, inform you what we do and involve every person because there is no other way that which will create confidence apart from involving the citizens in our processes.
Oh, okay. Thank you. My name is Vincent concerning the IBC body. So, first that we can use to vote. But why the IPC have just chosen this matter of online voting that can lead to transparency at a point.
Second, uh why do we as African countries we import devoting materials from the westerners where I believe that they can be produced here in Africa. Thank you.
Uh there are two questions. Let me start with the first one.
Why stick with the method of uh our method is uh registration is digital, identification is digital but voting is manual.
So it's an hybrid.
Why are we stuck with the manual one?
you are being given the barrel. It's not IBC that decides h the electro process is governed by the law.
It's not somebody's feelings, emotions.
I need to do this, do it that way. It's the law. The existing law demands that you get a ballot paper, go to a booth, mark and cast.
The views you have you have given are very progressive.
the commission assist on such there are so many uh similar proposals that why can't we make voting to be digital real time. So it is an issue that has to go through public participation and parliament passes a law on digital voting as we speak. There's no law that governs digital voting. So if we say we want to do digital voting, that's an irregularity. So until such a time that we have a law that governs digital and many Kenyans have expressed the the the view and the concern that let us have digital so that we reduce human intervention in these processes.
So that could be something for the future. But for now, the law only talks about you mark and you cast.
And why do we get ballot papers from?
Why do we import? Why do we go to Greece? Why do we go to Dubai to source our ballot papers?
The answer is very simple. It's a a question of trust deficit.
Politicians do not trust that Kenyans can be able to print the borrowed papers, be kept safe and be used without manipulations.
So until such a time that we engage with the public that we all agree that printing the papers locally does not make it uh inferior such that we trust companies from outside Kenya. So currently is a question of trust. The trust deficit is what really making the commission to do that.
I hope I'm clear on that.
Oh. Uh I since there's uh no one who has a question, I think I I'm I'm just going to to ask two questions.
uh and this is because most of us here and error of social media rumors travel faster than the truth. Uh like a rumor I call it a rumor but I believe most people here believe it is the truth. For me I had to go and read it to understand. So my question is just so you clarify to them so that even when they make content uh telling their peers to register and vote, does the IBC not allow cameras inside a polling station? That was a rumor I think this past week. Secondly, is there a age limit for the position of the president? Thank you.
Arrow uh Bondo, you respond to the H limit.
allow the cameras in the in polling station.
ABC does not refuse cameras in the polling station.
What privacy of of marking Voting is what is private. It is confidential.
It's not open for everyone to know.
So and so that is not uh that is against the law.
So it is not the commission refusing but the law does not allow exposing how a voter votes.
The cameras can show what is happening but that privacy Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.
So and media in the polling station does not contravene any law and in our polling station setup.
There is a place where we have reserved for the media, a place we have reserved for observers, a place we have reserved for agents and the poll officials.
SA uh Bonaro, thank you.
Remind me your name, please.
Gabro.
Yeah. You asked about the age limit for the position of the president.
Currently, we do not have any age limit.
Even if you are 120 years old, you can still vi for the presidency.
Is it clear?
I thank you.
The minimum is 18.
But remember there are other qualifications that you must meet.
If you meet them as a youth, then I encourage you to have a a stake at it. You are the majority. Remember who is willing to.
>> Congratulations. I'll vote for you.
>> Thank you.
I think we have one question here. I'm going to have only two questions. One from him and then the last one. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. My name is Paul.
Now I have a question here uh to the IBC.
>> Why does it why does it take much time to do the no?
what measures to ensure this doesn't happen again like like last year it really created tension because after voting and doing the counting now you know the citizens were the whole nation was waiting for the outcome then like um you guys took a lot of time a lot of tension and you saw what happened so what measures are you taking so that next time Then just to bring to your attention election happened.
Uh let me start with the last one.
Corruption agents.
The agents represent candidates and political parties.
We have candidate agents and political party agents.
Now the law gives uh candidates h the authority to recruit their agents and also the political party to recruit their agents. So you realize that uh the commission has little influence on the question of who becomes a an agent. Who becomes an agent is determined by the candidate and the political party. So if you have dreams of being an agent then belong to a political party of your choice and work closely with this particular candidate. When such a time arises you will be given an opportunity to be an agenda. Now if you cannot make it through that route you can also belong to some organizations the observer groups school observation groups either from the church uh Afric African there are so many if you belong you belong to those groups you can come as an observer Or you can equally apply to the commission to be accredited observer but not to be given an opportunity to be an agent because an agent must represent a political party or a candidate.
Now, why does the commission take so long to announce the results?
H it takes time to announce results especially presidential results and the constituency. So let's start from the polling station.
After the close of polling for the counting of what votes.
If you look at our electoral system in Kenya, we conduct six elections at the same time.
Presidential Mamba, Governor, MP, MCA, women rep and senator.
Now that process ought to be length because of the number of election we are conducting.
The counting has to start procedurally from presidential until the last one. H I think that's women po takes time to to count for president presentation and read the results announce your results polling station I just want you to visualize the magnitude of the work and go through to every ballot box six of Definitely that PO will not be ready with those results after they say 2 hours after close of that particular polling session. This is done manually.
It's not automated because this is a manual process.
Counting is done manually. documentation is manual because that the law says the law.
We can count votes the way probably we count money in a bank.
But the law itself, the way it prescribes the process makes that process definitely to take time. And such a time that the law is revised to have some digital armor online voting the way my friend had proposed such that there is little intervention that's human intervention something is every process is automated as long as it's manual it's bound to take time. Now once it it it moves from the polling station it will go to the constituency then at the constituency a similar process will be followed then from there take it to uh to the national taling center and that one also takes some time. So the only promise that we'll give is that the commission will always improve the processes uh being informed by the previous elections but it's a point we've taken into consideration for the purpose of improving the entire process.
Thank you.
Uh, anyone with a last question?
Oh, I think uh the questions have been exhausted.
Repeat us your name.
Thank you so much. My name is Ezekiel Juma.
Uh the county elections manager CIA.
Ezekiel Juma.
Ezekiel Juma comes from Kissy. I think that's a bit that you need to get. I come from Kiss and the other name is Oteno coming from Kissy. It's confusing, isn't it?
But that's my name.
Okay.
Okay.
So, okay. So, that is I think I've introduced myself enough.
Thank you very much. uh manager, thank you for coming and we really appreciate. Thank you very much.
Mr. from Black Room Live.
session.
The speaker started by enlightening all of us about ABC what its roles are. We learned that it's not only an election body but it's also involved in matters boundaries. Uh he also went ahead and also enlightened us further into the need for registration.
we take the necessary steps. I also I I especially love that because I'm I'm one of the people who also talked about it a few weeks ago. Uh the matter that was going round about cameras being allowed inside the calling stations. uh I'm glad that uh he's expounded on that and we are all going home uh with that uh in our minds. So many other things about I think very well and thank you very much.
Yes. So ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce briefly on this stage uh my brother there, Prophet Yes.
Are you ready?
DJ DJ DJ DJ Spiderle instrumental.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
I tell everybody I'm the king. I'm the boss.
I'm grateful.
DJ.
Yes. This is the fisherman's experience.
dance.
>> So ladies and gentlemen, first let me appreciate the IBC team for uh such a brilliant session. Uh we really appreciate we don't take it for granted.
Uh there are things they wouldn't have known. Most of them believe that the minimum age 35 Misho. Uh, and then right about now, allow me to invite Costa.
So that DJ DJ come today again. Thank you so much for having time and showing up.
But do we say usually think that I have wisdom? I don't. I write things. I cram. So enough.
I brought my phone.
What's happening today? Civic engagement.
Things like this do get boring. So I'm happy.
dance for wisdom. That's what wisdom is. Now I wrote something pastors.
Yes.
Yes. As I was saying, um I have some pointers.
I truly believe that forums like these are necessary especially for younger people me being one of I'm just exiting my youth age mayhem before youth so forums are truly very important knowledge also a wider understanding of how things happen most of us are not very keen for policies But they dictate how we, you know, live our lives and dictate what we eat. They dictate what kind of phones we can afford. They dictate what kind of clothes you can wear. So the art is equally as important as is.
Now why do I believe we should be involved? I think because the voice that this group has collectively might be bigger than the voice that the professionals have on this side collectively.
Now we hardly see it like that because inside dreams me conquer the world be Mr. beast be the next man boy. But then we we tend to ignore the things that are so close to home which equally plays a bigger part in that vision of being the greatest ever.
Now leadership collective responsibility I think so and there people who make policies which also There's people who make policies and then there's others who do oversight.
Now me as an artist I think this two segments I want to implore you guys to be as free and bold in talking about these issues about come on say a lot of people are not my huge fans I couldn't say that in English cuz I feel like the soul of that get lost in translation.
So the the will the wheel to to be able to go and walk through that journey and write songs, tell stories, question things in those lines of questioning things.
But the conversation is wider and then you find where you're going.
Scratch my back and scratch scratch my back and scratch your back.
So if you have questions today professional from I'm happy that I cut a little bit of the session. There's many people going to talk about these things.
president.
What is your responsibility as a citizen first to yourself and your neighbor and then to the greater republic is a responsibility as a voter and why it's necessary to vote people with the good the right policies.
It hurts me that sometimes and then people come, experts come and they talk and we listen.
campaign.
So that when people come and say what they have, you can vet them. You have the authority to weigh them and see who things has more substance.
Give it up for she comes out.
I wasn't even in the program but nice to meet you again. Janet Nairobi I do a lot of things in the tech digital economy space and we are happy to see what's happening today in terms of organizing the future of this country into workshops that you are able to get meaningful message of young voters didn't show up to vote or this percentage of young voters are the ones who voted for whoever ever is serving whatever term. So we are hoping as we have these engagements and then multip in your family WhatsApp group in your friends WhatsApp group so that we make an impact. So I want to invite the main keynote speaker for this particular session. Uh Faith Oambo, Emmeritus, LSK president, Miss Angukayo mover of the movement. Faith has served as LSK president uh dutifully, courageously, fearlessly and she's here to just discuss some of the arising issues in terms of good um electoral practice and constitutionality and how you can use your art.
to what is good governance.
First of all, um to thank Costa and the entire team for organizing this and IBC for being here. Did you see the results and the percentage of those who registered to vote?
Mana, where was Nyanza?
Where was I?
Spirit Baba still lives on and the only way spirit of Baba will continue to grow is through each and every one of you.
That is your decision making power.
elections next year.
You owe it to yourself.
You believe in what Baba was doing. You must take your and ensure that you take your your vote.
It's both a privilege and provocation to stand before you today. A privilege because in this room I see a Kenya that truly is not the one for budget cycles and parliamentary procedures. Not the one with footnotes and legal briefs, but a Kenya that sings, that curves, that paints, that dances, that wraps.
The Kenya of Park Rock that tells stories by fireside and chants that weave the human condition into cloth and clay and vase. A provocation because the conversation we're opening today is not a comfortable one. It asks us to look honestly at who holds power in this society and whether it's finally time for an artist to take the wheel.
Let us begin with a name, the ruler.
The artist who is a ruler reclaiming your pen, the brush, and the stage as instruments of power.
Not the ruler that governs from behind walls. Not the one who issues commands from a distance, but the ruler the instrument that draws the line others follow. The guy that determines whether what is built stands true or collapses under imbalance. I put it to you this afternoon that an artist in every society has always been the ruler. Not always recognized as such, not always protected, not always paid what they deserve. But always always drawing a line in a generation which eventually follows.
The question before you today is simple.
Are our artists driving the bus or are they still being asked to sit at the back seat? To answer that we must first travel as all serious African thinkers through the extraordinary landscape of Okot Beek. He was a poet, a philosopher, cultural critic, a provocator window. Song of Lino.
Song of Lino. Jenzes. Have you heard of Song of Lino? I challenge you to read or find it in the internet. Published in 1966.
Bite gave voice to Lino. A rural achie watching her husband or call abandon everything uncensoral in exchange for western imitation. Lino did not simply argue against cultural erasia. She made people that is power of the artist to file a petition to must be seen and the unheard be heard loud and clear while the unfelt must devastatingly inescapably be felt through the songs through the chants through your poems.
You know, Giuliani through his songs makes you feel the heartbreak that people felt.
When you hear Costa, you feel culture come alive. Your culture fusing with what we have today, the younger generation. A courtbe believed and built his entire intellectual life around the conviction that art is the primary vehicle through which a people know themselves, govern themselves and resist those who govern them against their will. A society that silences its artists has severed its own nervous system. It can no longer feel the places where it's broken. This is the foundation on which we build today. I have spent many of my professional life in courtrooms, boardrooms, and conferences. And lately, corridors of justice at police stations on the streets defending our sovereignity, we the people. The law has taught me something I wish I I had understood much earlier.
That most powerful documents in human history are not written by lawyers.
They're written by artists.
The American Declaration of Independence was literally literal craftsmanship. The speeches of Frederick Douglas oratory as architecture. The songs of Mao Mauo banned because the colonial administration knew their power. And not yet to huru by Jeramogi.
Guugiwa imprisoned not for filing a motion but for staging a plain GU that spoke truth to a government that preferred silence. Kisumu Governor Professor Nyang exiled because of his literary works while in West Africa. We all know about Ken Sarawa.
The constitution 2010 is progressive, bold, deeply human and born in apart from apart from the civic imagination of artists, storytellers and community voices who dare to say this is the Kenya we want. The law codifies what the artists first imagine.
Before the right to education was ever written in a constitution, someone sung about a child who deserved to learn.
Before gender equality was ever legislated, a poet wrote her truth and refused that it it was irrelevant.
Before environmental rights were ever recognized, a weave of stories made us feel the grief of a dying lake, of a forest that was being taken over. We remember the great words of Professor Wangai Matai. that is a work of art.
Artists are not the followers of social change. They are the architects of social change in the quest for a just community. The honest truth is that the artist in Kenya today's remains the most underprotected, undervalued and overcrutinized member of our society. We have intellectual property laws sophisticated on paper yet hardly enforced in practice. We have artists whose work is consumed by millions who die without a pension or medical cover.
We have musicians whose songs play in every Bay Matu in this country but they cannot afford rent. Ours is a political culture that is only too happy to use the artist. Politicians invite you to perform at a rally to hype the crowd before they come on stage sing.
You have seen them commission a mural for government buildings but in and invite dancers and singers to showcase culture for a visiting delegation.
But those calls fall deeply silent when the artist turns around and asks for better pay.
Oop called this cultural imperialism. We might in our own time call it selective ampification.
And we have seen even from our neighbors. You're only allowed to sing as long as the song sings to the tune of the ruler. So what do we do? What does it mean in practical terms for an artist to become a vehicle driver for social change? Three things.
Not a manifesto, not a prescription. And definitely manu art is not a soft skill. It is a civic skill.
Costa, when you pick up a paintbrush to paint, a micro uh microphone to sing, chant, or speak. I like that your attention is on me now. You're decorating the edges of public life.
You're giving life to culture and fusing culture and the life of today.
Know your rights. The constitution protects your freedom of expression and the copyright act exists to protect your creative labor. Thei the space between those laws and the enforcement is a space that must be protected by artists who know their legal ground. Don't wait for others to fight for you. Fight for yourselves. It is by asserting the importance of an artist because you sing the voice of the nation. You sing to the conscience of the society. Organize yourself.
I'll give this example.
A fisherman knows the value of his net.
A single line in the water catches but a few fish if it can catch anything at all. But a net woven of many strings strong at every knot changes entire the outcome entirely. So you must decide as an artist. Do you want to practice on your own? Sing on your own. Fight for your rights on your own or do you want to work with other artists? Organize yourself. Have a strong voice. Build associations.
Participate in public forums.
participate in budget making because artistic work must be budgeted for. Why do other cultures, other governments in invest in artists, commission them to do murals, to do um be involved in the building of architecture in their country to preserve the culture because they recognize the importance that artists make and it has to be budgeted.
So don't say budget making is for lawyers, it's for engineers, it's also for you because unless you also strive to ensure that the protection of artists that investment in artists is also budgeted for then you remain forgotten.
Other people will show you the way. And last but not least, choose your audience deliberately. The bus driver who does not know how to drive does not know where they're going.
There's a place for an art that speaks to the already converted. But an artist as the ruler must also take the vehicle into difficult terrain. Take this message to communities where conversation has not yet started. Into spaces where power is comfortable and unchallenged. Into the school where children see their own story reflected back at them. And I'll give you a good example. I teach Sunday school and for the longest time the depiction of Jesus has always been Jesus is what color? And so I remember one funny day.
One of our parish priests came to see the children. And when they asked who he was, they said, "This is Jesus."
When other people write your stories, when other people are the ones that determine the cause of how you learn, then other people are in charge of your story. Be in charge of your own story.
And so this is providential that this is the fisherman's um experience and workshop.
be fishermen that move their nets tightly together, working together by building one another, supporting one another, and having associations that can ensure that your work is protected and that you're able to fight for your rights. As a daughter of the lake, I'm genuinely glad because the fisherman is one of humanity's oldest metaphors for the artist. Launching your fishing nets into the deep waters, patient with uncertainty, knowing that what you pull up from the depths may surprise you.
Understanding that the lake does not owe you a catch, but that it rewards those who study with skill, who respect it with care, who approach it not to conquer, but to commune. The Lake Victoria, where this community lives, is more than geography. It's memory, its identity, it's our story.
So you can lay the ruler fresh. Measure from a different corner. Decide what the first line in this page will be drawn where no line has been drawn before.
Kenya is still waiting for you to draw your lines. We are a young democracy. A people still negotiating, still arguing, still singing, still still writing about who we are and what we owe each other.
That negotiation should not be settled in parliament alone. Neither will it be settled in courting alone. It will be settled ultimately in the imagination of artists just like you. You, the painters, the poets, the musicians and the muralists, the filmmakers, the spoken word artists, the fishermen who mean and understand the the reasoning behind being a ruler. Not politicians, not bureaucrats, not even I dare say my profession where I come from the lawyers. You hold the ruler. The question is whether you will use it. I believe this workshop is evidence of it.
This gathering of artists and activists, a gathering of citizens who refuse to separate their creativity from their civic responsibility.
This is exactly the kind of meeting that Baba Raa Aoinga if he were here with us today would have insisted on. He would have sat right here. He would have listened and then because he was above all an artist he would have said something none of us would have quite predicted that would have stayed with us for years and I could never attempt to match. Draw the line. Draw it truthfully. Draw it boldly. Then be the ones to drive it. ask that we stand for one minute in silence of honor of Baba Raa and thank you very much. God bless our artists, our country, and may justice be our shield and defend us. Thank you.
>> The MC.
>> The MC.
Thank you.
My coffee.
Yes. Uh thank you very much uh ladies and gentlemen.
Uh I I'm just I'm I'm just allowing them >> to know >> what is coming in front here is very heavy.
>> Okay.
>> Uh so I'm being reminded here that uh we have uh Octopiso in the building again with us today.
her power.
Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'm also reminded power.
Yes. Uh so right about now uh allow me uh allow you Yes.
Yes.
Mom left.
I'm always straight forward. Mhm.
When rapper Even my knowus of God.
Who is Jesus?
DJ 30 seconds.
Come to me.
30 seconds. Your 30 seconds. Number one, make sure we mention equity.
For your 30 seconds, make sure we mention >> equity. Make sure we mention IBC. Make sure we mention IBC. Make sure we mention the fisherman experience.
>> Make sure we mention the garden bond.
Now make sure we mention Pepsi.
Yo man, I have something to say. Yo man. Yo man.
Yo man something to say.
Yo man something to say no for the for the sake of time so that we save time.
You mention you mention IBC. You mentioned equity.
You mentioned the fisherman's experience. Bond guardians.
society of equity.
Relax medical center.
Of course, SC number one, you mentioned Equity, you mentioned Baraza Media Lab, you mentioned Tik You mentioned Safari Link.
Okay.
Yeah, man.
You tell us to do what you can do.
Mhm.
Fisherman.
30 seconds.
Yo, I'm grateful to experience everybody's going in case you find hospitals every time. Iard everything is okay.
Everything's okay. So, I don't have much to say. I love G.
1 2 3.
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Hands up in the air. Hands up in the air.
Hands up in the air. Nice up big hands up in the air.
Up in the airiami up in the air. Come on. Hands up in the air. Come on.
Happy birthday.
Hands up in the air. Nice hands up in the air.
company to call the god.
This is what we do here. We also support Hey, insurance.
Yes. So, gentlemen, right now, yeah, Mike, right about now, uh allow me to invite on this stage our our panelist for today. uh and the discussion is going to be on decentralizing the narrative.
Uh the moderator today will be Akili from Barza Media.
of the monga.
He will be joined by none other than Faith Odambo and Churchill Oteno together with Mr. Ezekiel Juma.
And uh lastly on that panel will be none other than Oto Poto.
I think I'm going to need an extra mic.
But uh yes, my coffee makant.
It's lovely to see you all again.
from so if you're a creative if you're somebody in the media space mall um I'm taking my 5 minutes of faith collect mallish we deal with um creatives and and um and media practitioners I'm even seeing some of of my people here kunana so for today we are going to be discussing ing decentralizing the narrative. And on the panel, as you've heard, we have Faith Odamo, former NSK president, Karim Busana. We have um Monga, Kenyan author, storyteller, and photographer. Octopiso, award-winning uh recording performing artist. So, Karibun is sana sana sana sana. So, the conversation today is about um creatives and uh storytelling and civic engagement. How do we merge the two topics and how do we also control ourselves in that space? Um so the role of creatives in shaping uh public understanding and um also attention uh span online people do not concentrate a lot these days. I think the there's a report I read that says that people concentrate for 8 seconds after that people move on. So then how do we capture this audience right and how do we make civ civic issues relatable cuz sometimes there are people who do not relate to it and there are people who do not feel it is important to them or that it touches them right.
Um and also how do how do we make it accessible to the ordinary citizen leave alone people in the online space but to Kendo Shago how do we talk to our parents how do we talk to our grandparents around these issues and make them understand and not be influenced by people who they see on TV or hear on radio right um so I think my first question will go to uh faith the legal and constitution conversations right they sometimes feel distant from um young people. How do we make them uh how do we make these issues easier for people to understand especially the young people?
>> Well, I always say break it down in terms of what touches them and what affects them directly. Um you know, today we'll be talking about cost of receiving and sending money, whether the increases um will affect the same. Um when we're talking about cost of internet or access to internet those are things that are like your daily consumables that affect your life cost of transport you know whether you're using a matu a bus or an Uber the moment um that is touched or affected it will affect you directly as an individual and so those are things that you can talk about and it will infiltrate and that's why and moreo music. You know, people don't understand the impact and the power of music spoken word as its raw form as it ought to be understood. It is through the artists that a lot of young people are expressing themselves and are also learning about a lot of processes and challenges that they face. You know, as a lawyer, I remember a lot of Jenz's would say that, well, you will go to court, but we're also disappointed sometimes with our court system. So we will do it our own way and we will force change our own way. This way that you're telling us is the contra cons contrasts that have been created to ensure that we are not able to move forward or to change the society towards the way we we want it to be. And so even through um what we saw in 2024, music was at the center of that movement. And so m music should be used effectively to send the message. Photography photography was an powerful tool that was used to tell the story of those who are being killed. It was used to synchronize and bring together a story of even the involvement of the KDF which most of us thought was not involved during the killings. But it's through those different photos that were able to be pieced together to identify who are the individuals behind those shootings and who shot who during those protests. And so we must use art the best way we can because a lot of our young people recognize music, recognize art, um be it spoken word, be it painting as their daily lives. That is what they consume on a day-to-day basis. But what are the message that our musicians are sending out there? That our artists are sending out there. We see great artists even doing um art to to represent opposition or a revolution or anger that the society is going through. So through that art, through that painting, they're able to send a powerful message that when everyone sees that photo or sees that drawing, they're able to immediately connect to the current challenges and situations or even on the way forward. And so we need to rethink or artists need to remember the power that they hold and how they able to shape and move our society because talking about bills, talking about petitions, they are nice and they're important because they fall within the contract of society. But it's through music that people will learn their rights. It is through art that people will understand the direct correlation between the cost of um getting from getting from your house or cost of you know KPLC paying for that token why is everything changing why can't I afford it the frustration of not being able to take your your child to school or why your siblings are not able to go to school because um maybe um schools are overcrowded or the education system that is there is really frustrating. You don't understand why your sibling cannot get to the same level as you are. It'll sing and it will share the story that affects them on a day-to-day basis. And so, I would say that let's focus on identifying artists that can be able to share that information, that can be able to bring that into life through the ways that our younger generation understand.
because music all through different generations has been able to bridge that gap from the young to the old. Um be it you know songs of Bob Mali to date is able to tell you about the revolution that was going on and his strong beliefs in what they wanted to see in the future and so music can transcend different generations and can be able to touch the hearts of our younger generation. Thank you.
>> I love that. That's powerful, right? And I think even when we talk about the consumables in 2024, one of the things that people really cons uh complained about with the finance bill was the price of bread. You know, that is one of the things that really came out and also the creatives being t uh taxed. So I I I do agree with um with what you've said and in as I'm I'm loving that I'm seeing creatives here and it's true. You guys do hold the power. you guys hold the power to make the change and to speak to fellow people and be able to reach um their hearts. So, thank you for that, Faith. Um I'll move on to you, Magunga.
Um why do you think audiences are connecting more with independent storytellers and creators online? Why is that shift? And on a certain level, I even feel people tend to trust them more, sometimes even more than what the politicians are saying, right? So why is that shift um where audiences are connecting more with independent storytellers and creators online?
>> Um it's because there's a relationship you you've been following your favorite creators and content um your favorite influencers and content creators over time they've opened up to you. There is a kind of vulnerability that they have.
They entertain you. So there's um a perceived notion of um is it perceived or is it real? But there is um the idea that you feel closer to this person.
This person is someone who has taken you through your struggles whether it's with your skin care routine or whatever it is and now they've become um a kind of authority or authoritative voice in your in your life. Yeah. And that's now where the influence comes in. The independence um is also also plays towards to it because you do not you don't seem to be swayed by money or by political um what is it called affiliations. Okay. And even and independence here doesn't mean that you do not support a particular party or politician or whatever. It means that you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. So there is that kind of believability that comes with it. Um yesterday there were different breakout sessions and one of the sessions that were very full was the one for content creation. And so there is this there is this appeal towards the towards content creation and influencing not just because of the the the the financial benefit that comes with it but also the kind of power that you get to hold over people. Now It is it is actually a very um interesting thing to be able to sway people, right? Politicians have it and that's why they use it the way they do.
And the other people who also have it is your favorite creators, your favorite content creators, uh your favorite influencers, okay? You follow what they say when they they always have your back and that kind of thing. And it's it comes with a kind of responsibility honestly. um so that you you become more than just an entertainer, you become a powerful voice in the community. So I in your opinion that's that's the reason why.
Thank you for that. I think you've even answered my follow-up question about influencing public opinion and the responsibility that comes with that because and I love when people fact check each other online when somebody says this and somebody creates a different video to counter them and that argument ensues and it's not even in like bad blood but just to be able to get what is facts out there. So um and also I think in as much as we are talking about this in terms of the civic space but also let's look at how companies are using influencers to get people to buy their product or to consume their product. So that power that you're saying is there is real and let's not take that for granted even as you're sitting here. There's power in what you do. Those simple videos that you post online, those um simple sentiments that you post online, there's power in that. And so you have to be able to use that wisely and also hold yourself accountable before putting out what you're putting out. Right?
>> And if you go back to 2024 during the finance bill discussions that happened that now later later on um led to the protest that happened. It was heavily driven with um content creators and artists in general. Um, it got to a point where the general public was asking people, if you're a content creator, what is your stand? Where do you stand? And if you're with the people, then we need to see you on the streets, not just tweeting. And so your content moved, our content moved from the internet and spilled off spilled over into the streets. It was not just about now posting I stand with the people. It was also about standing with the people in real life. And that's now a responsibility that you should be ready to take up. um going forward um if you have that kind of if you will that kind of influence. These people build you up. They prop you up to become who you are. And so you should not be scared to turn you should not be scared and turn away when now they really need you to come and speak up for them. So for everyone who was at the content creation master class yesterday, you need to understand that it's not just about gaining popularity. It's also about standing up when it matters. And um it is all foreign games when we are trending and laughing and dancing and all that. But when now your country calls on to you, you are required to lead from the front on the front yards.
Yeah.
>> And something interesting as you bring that up also the people who are should I call them posers during the 24 the 2024 protests were also called out cuz there were people who would go to the streets, take pictures, and then disappear. I don't know if you have anything to add on that.
>> Well, at the time I I could I took all the support that I could get and there are people who can support you. It it looks bad. It actually looks bad when people are actually spilling their blood on the streets. There are people who actually pay the ultimate price being on the street and then these people Yeah.
Someone comes takes pictures. We event, you know, a photo and then right um it's it's it's actually a bad show when you think about it. On the other hand is that uh for those people because of the influence that they have for the people who were not on the streets or are outside the country or whatever who follow them uh the notion that they were part of the of the struggle um inspires those people. It's it's it's a it's a I know it it sounds bad, but it does, right? Even if all they did was take pictures at post, so long as they were on our side and at the time, we took all the help we could get, whether you pretending or posing, so long as the message was one and clear.
Yeah.
>> Okay. That's an interesting take.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Um, >> what do you have to say?
>> Um, okay. That's because we had had a conversation around that before. I think that's why he's trying to loop you in, but I don't think he wants to say anything, so we'll move. Um, so for Octo, your music and your stories connect deeply with ordinary people. Why is authenticity important in storytelling?
Um I'd say the most cuz people need to relate uh beyond music and uh for me I treat music as documentation of my own story uh and I have to tell it in different ways. I I imagine it in different ways. So there's my Kera story then that's it. Then you grow then there's the other story. Then there's the school story. There's and then there's just fashion. There's style. So there's so many stories, but they all has to be uh around how I grew up cuz there's so many people in those neighborhoods too who probably are artist or just uh music lovers that relate to that story. Like if you do a song about uh let's say your mother, everybody has a mother, you know. Uh but if I do a song about a Lamborghini that I don't have, it can be imaginative and fun, but it it will not tie down to it will not relate more to my community cuz that's not something they see on every day. It will look just like I'm bragging or something. So I think that's why it's always important that people can relate to you. And uh when you walk out, you know the way we say politicians, they have like two versions. is and nowadays every politician want to be a celebrity and now celebrities want to be politicians.
It's a it's a crazy world but that's what it is you know but you know leaders should not be celebrities. Yeah. We should not like see you like people cheering like what are you doing why people are cheering. I remember telling somebody if you're a a border rider and you do it so well why should we cheer and you're doing your job? It's like if you're a governor and you're performing we should not be clapping. We should say okay good job. Maybe we should uh vote you again next time, but we we should not be your fans. Like politicians should not have funds like people following them around. They should they are service providers. It's like customer care like hey how can I help you.
So I think so then it goes back to the authenticity of also leadership and civic environments.
Why many young people are now related to like content creator and artist is because they they are speaking one their language probably uh they have the supporting probably the same football team nowadays I see if there's a football team wins every politician is posting the same wearing jazzes group cuz now it has just become a fashionable thing then like are you really a fan of us and fans. So I think this is where authenticity is so important like just be you and whenever you are yourself I think there's so many people who can relate to them. Yeah.
>> Um one okay for me I'm a communications person. So, one of the things that we've been seeing, especially with the videos that move, are the videos that are raw and edited and not so um made up. And you find those are the videos that's in a trend. So, even if you're out there, don't try and and and emulate somebody else. You can borrow, but ideally what people want to see is you, right? Um uh so we can move on.
So this is open to to any of you. Do artists have a responsibility to speak on civic issues and social issues or should they remain independent from politics? Of late we've been seeing the the trend of cancel culture. So sometimes you find somebody will say something and people don't take it well and then they are canceled. So should people speak? Where is that balance where somebody still has the freedom to express themselves even if it is not what the masses want? And also um being able to you know to say what they want.
Yeah.
>> Uh yeah the artist should be should should be you know people forget artists are humans first. So it's just like a doctor, a lawyer, farmer. It's just a profession just like any other. So they have choices. They have things they like things they don't like. Now the difference comes when you have influence. So when you have influence the expectation is so high. Uh either some people want you to be neutral cuz you have fans I think all across the divide of politics and people have this fear of unknown.
Uh it's a thin line but I think every artist still need to make like uh now they become human again and then say like okay this is my stand uh and this is what I support this this align with my values as a person and as an artist but when it comes out to influence uh I think if today UDA am I going there as a supporter of UDA or am I going there as an artist.
So there's there's a there's a thin line, but in Kenya Kenya. So I think when when we especially the mass if they start seeing artists like okay >> this is his profession like lawyer even nobody has ever judged him.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. So if I'm going there for work like when I stand and say two times political when I stand and say one time political but I'm still doing my own thing and I think that's how for me it should be.
>> This is what I want to do before I give it to you. I would want the crowd, what do you guys think about that? How would you see it? How do you perceive it when you see your um musician or your artist?
Aqua there. There's a hand behind there.
I don't know if you can get another mic.
>> Thank you. My my short take would be that if OTO were called to do um a set with a political party that um the masses probably do not expect him to align with then I think it would be best to um you know I mean decline the offer.
That's my my take.
It seems this is a very odd topic. Let me start here as we go. Uh this is how we are going to do it. We are going to have three people from this side speak and then we take it back here. Then three people and then we take it back here in the shortest time possible. So we start here. One.
>> Yeah. So with me this is something I've wanted to hear but today I'm very grateful that I'm hearing it from an artist who is having experience.
Octo said that we artist we are human there's no way we are making money so they want me to remain I be there but I'm hungry it's just you just go there do your set of 10 minutes don't be political so you just do your thing and then after that you go. You don't you don't care about what the public will say because they won't feed you.
>> May I get one from this side?
Thank you. Okay.
the public won't feed you, which is somehow rude. But explanation maybe without this is getting interesting. The pressure is increasing or decreasing.
Increasing or decreasing.
Okay.
Example, I can remember when toxically a little state house and the guy performance.
Then what we judged stage then later after performance.
Okay. Okay. I'm going to take it back here and then just raise your hands up.
I'm coming. I'm coming. Why delay? All right. This side and then this side.
Yes.
>> Uh my opinion, an artist should not politicize his shows. Even when uh Okay, we personally dislike. I mean, they want to brigade. So when an artist is called to perform where is I will not judge them because we are looking for money that is the end the end goal end up perform don't be the one or the two just do the work that you called there for so Good afternoon, >> Henry or Haga.
>> We are already poor whether we like it or not. We are suffering financially.
When you stand out there and let me give you an example. The other day the president excused some people who had been um convicted for raping raping kids. Okay, there are things we can pretend about. I know we have to make money. It makes sense. But there's something called conscience. I want you to imagine your 4-year-old was raped and then the president of Kenya makes a decision to remove that person out of prison. Are you going to breathe?
>> Exactly. So you you cannot tell me there's a middle ground about that.
There's no middle ground about it.
>> Yes.
Um guys, >> um I completely vehemently disagree with Oto, with you, with you, all of you guys here completely. Here's the thing.
Listen, doing the right thing is not easy. It has never been easy. And sometimes it will mean that your pocket will suffer. If OTO is called by by byama to to perform. There is a reason why he has picked OT and probably not the guys who are singing here today. Do you know why?
Because he has influence. The first thing or the first mistake that I feel like OT made is that he said that being an artist is like having any other job.
It is not. It is not. How many how many how many teachers do you know who you follow and you will follow around and will jazz this place? 10,000 people.
None. Okay. But an artist at Auja I show 10,000 people will listen to him. You have an immense amount of power that these people are looking for and every single time you are associating with them you are lending your power to them.
There is there will be other shows you don't have to do the show that UDA is doing. Oto you're not hungry. Oto you're not hungry. OC Oto can do without this show and still live well. Okay. And I also disagree with you when you say you should not make your concerts political.
It is a you should because life is political. And these people who are misusing your money, these people who are killing your children, your brothers, your sisters, your mothers and your fathers. These people who are stealing and necessary money and that's why people who are retired cannot live a life in their golden years. these people who are responsible for the negligence that led to these 16 children burning in Adon in uh in Umishi. These things are systemic. Okay? And the only way that we can ever rise up is the way we started doing in 2024 where we drew a line, a very thick line and we said we are not crossing over on the other side. So when you come and tell me that you are only just going to sing, you're not only going to sing. Even in the United States, you can see it every single time. When Obama was campaigning to be president, Akina Jay-Z, Beyonce and who have you go and perform. Why? Because they are trying to attract the power and influence that these people have have over their audience. You artists have more power over people than even musicians do.
this kind of association is where the problem begins.
>> You want to say something?
>> I want to say something. I want to say something. So I think his point his point about influence the side of influence. But let's say for instance There is a difference between and difference where is doing a concert and then you go there. Those are completely different things.
>> So now listen now I want to bring it homeind.
Okay.
Remember, you you respect the ODM values, not an individual by the party not by individual. So default I'm not going to you are supporting this is another also another thing you have to realize performed stage I didn't say this on stage and he had the opportunity to say so now that's that's what we say as an artist now you you have the power to say like hey I don't think >> allow me to loop in faith faith where is the freedom of express where does the freedom of expression and accountability meet as as we've seen people having the different opinions so Where does that freedom of expression and accountability that Magunga is saying uh as an artist you have that influence and how do you use that influence or where does it um you know listening to everyone's very heated and passionate beliefs you must also respect the other side's beliefs um and I remember there was a time that um in ODM the challenge always used to voters are bought. And I remember one time Baba said and so take that money but remember we are voting how six piece wisely. And so you see this is the balance or a reality that you must check even as artists as you sing as you try and build that divide because this is the same country where before even the eruption in 2024 we are seeing on on news grandmothers boiling stones for their children before they sleep because they don't have money for food. Will you tell that grandmother if she got 200 shillings that Will you tell that grandmother that you see this is a reality of poverty? I'm not saying that we take R's money but look at the reality of the society that we are living in. And now we must sing a message to remind people be loyal when you're voting. Remember that this person is giving you money because there's no they know there's no other way they would get your vote save for that coin that they're giving you. But you have an opportunity to change that and be able to get that money directly by opportunities opening that this grandchildren of yours may one day go to school and get an opportunity. And I say freedom of expression ought to be respected because remember when Wangare Matai was undressed when she she she um fought for Huru Park we were young children at that particular time and she got naked. It was a scandal and many people were not with her. The late senior council Ferohose Nori was one of the very few lawyers who went to represent her.
People were saying she's mad. How can a woman undress? But if it wasn't for her undressing, we would not be having the huru park we have today. It would be a concrete.
Today we are still fighting to preserve the various forest. You see what is happening in Kura. She fought for Kura forest. And at a time when it was unpopular, at a time when people did not believe in what she was saying, people thought that she was going against the grain.
Remember so many years we have been silenced and that's why Kenyans continue to fight for freedom of expression. You remember the mo days that you could not even mention his name. People were whispering his name. This is the reality of the Kenya we live and that's why we are fighting so hard for this constitution 2010 because we do not want people to be silenced. You cannot go out on the streets. You'll be shot. You cannot express yourself in the internet.
You will be picked up from your home at night.
people disappear in abandon. You must be able to express freedom of expression.
And I always say this council culture that we're building and developing, let us watch that we do not start in fighting. Because the best way for a dictator to win is divide and conquer.
Because once you're all divided, you're cancelelling each other. You're in this side, you're in this side. We forget the main goal. How will you ensure change if you're fighting between one another?
Remember how the colonialists ruled?
They would set up some your chiefs, your important people versus the others. How do you think the white people were infiltrating? Were they do they know how our cultural systems work? Did they understand our roots? Did they know how to get to others? They were using the same black man to imprison his other black man.
We must remember that if we are seeking for change, a true revolution, we must come together.
People must remember that what what is our north? Where are we going to? Do you want to see actual change or do you want to fight amongst each other and as you're wasting time fighting amongst each other, someone else will continue to rule you? We'll continue to direct where you're going. We'll continue to determine your fate. Someone is sitting there saying we're not going to invest so much in education. Why? Because uneducated people are people who demand for more, who ask for more.
So you must remember your true north because some of these things that we do, you don't even know where it emanated from. And remember even there was a time that Jensen's were afraid because you did not know who to trust because they used that opportunity to infiltrate.
And so you could not understand who do we trust, who don't we trust.
We must rethink and reunite ourselves because if our true north is that we want to see a change, let us remain focused. Let us not subject ourselves to unnecessary distractions that are not going to help us get to the destination that we want.
It is the unity that we come together that is going to ensure that we make a change in this country. And if we start looking at each one another and saying you your your your dark black, your eony, your your yellow, your what these are the things that are going to bring us down. I ask ourselves that let's remember freedom of expression is important because it's different voices that are able to bring a collage into that painting.
It's our differences that make us wonderful. Everyone should be able to express their opinion without being afraid. What difference are you from the dictator? If someone raises their voice to say something and then you shout them down, aren't you just like the ones that are ruling the ruling class who are telling that children should be um if children come out and and speak out, their parents should be ready for the repercussions. You have not disciplined your children.
The ones who are saying What is the difference? Let us remember, we must respect each other's freedom of expression, but let us amplify the message that we want. Ignore the nonsense. Focus on the message that you want because otherwise divide and conquer will continue to be the order of the day. Thank you. Oh, that was heavy. Harsh, but true. And I think it fits so well into the direction that the the conversation had taken, right? And so that's how sometimes we lose the mark even as we are both fighting for the same thing and then we end up in different teams. So again the same question that I've asked um that I've asked uh Faith I still want to ask October and Monga and then I'll move it again to the crowd. Where is that intersection between accountability and freedom of speech? because your creators, your people who um the masses follow and they listen to. So where is that uh intersection or where do they meet? Uh freedom of speech and accountability >> for for me I'd say my freedom of speech is always on my music. I think even faith before mention uh I've heard harsh songs about this government. my my music is very political from the beginning. Uh so my that's where my accountability comes.
Like I'll question even if you're my brother and you're doing something that is wrong. Uh like this is wrong and this should not be done. But I don't think that should make me uh get me to a level that we have to fight cuz I always feel like that's where people miss their counterp like we can disagree to agree.
Okay. Like maybe we like almost 10 things the same but we don't like the same one thing. So now we we are we are going to throw all this relationship because we disagree on one thing. We can disagree to agree. And for creatives uh I think it's it's it's it's good not to be neutral when you have uh influence.
Yeah. I don't think it's is as I say I think that you'll just keep quiet like there's police brutality.
where like you are watching your brand as much as when when you're in those spaces too almost 80% of media n it's owned by politicians so some of us have been even black balled we don't even get airplane anymore that's why we we thank the internet because they're not going to play it and they They say this music is too conscious, it's too this, it's too sensitive. But you see that's why now the digital environment has helped us. So you can't you can't still say like people can't be shot in the street the next day. That means either you lack empathy, you just neutally don't care.
>> I like the the last point you've said and this is something that was happening even with the with the protest in 2024.
most creators when when people were posting about the finance bill and the protests and then post this like read the room. This is not where we are right now and it doesn't mean we are silencing you. It just means at this time our focus is is somewhere else. Okay.
>> Um you are allowed to do what you want.
That one is a right that people uh died for for you to be able to make whatever choice that you want. Let's let's maybe that's where we should have begun that you are allowed to take part in in this process or you can sit it out. Okay? And you're free to choose by the way whether you want to be on this side or this side. That's really up to you. And I cannot dictate to you what you should do with your target. What I'm here to say is to provide my perspective that when you are given so much power, there is responsibility that is attached to it.
Okay? And time will tell. Time will be the judge of how you used that power.
Whether you use it to perpetuate injustices or to to fatten your pockets or you actually stood with the people, you stood by the right thing. In 2024, a number of us creators decided actually we were next to parliament when police opened fire. Okay, we were there shooting photography, videography, we were documenting the struggle because that's also part of the struggle. Okay, and all of a sudden we couldn't speak in terms of we couldn't send even messages. There was a total shutdown in communication. Okay, we know who was the provider of the telecommunication that I don't need to say their name. Okay, and we got home total blackout people have been killed. Okay. And you cannot send a message through internet on the dot as the president is coming on stage. And from that moment I and alongside other creators, we decided that we have worked with this company for years. They have literally built us up from the ground as creators and we have also worked together for a while.
But when it gets to a point where you switch off internet like that in a moment of struggle that is pushed by uh digital engagement then you have chosen a side that I cannot be part of. And so I said I'm never going to work with this company again. Okay. I didn't ask other creators to do the same. I just chose my side. Akinachi we also say the same thing and a lot of other creators. We decided we were leaving money on the table because we know that gigs will always come. We are content creators and our our power cannot be diminished and it can never be squashed because we refused a single source of income. And up to today I've never worked with them anywhere and I'm still here with you guys because the power that I've been given I will not sleep hungry. I know that for sure. So when I say that you are allowed to do whatever you want, you are. And when I see other creators working with the same company, I have no problem with that. Okay. But I I I myself in good conscience cannot bring myself given the things that I saw during the protest to work with this company. And so when I say that you should not lend your power to people who are oppressing you, that is what I'm talking about. I'm not saying that you are now the devil's incarnate because you have chosen that particular side.
You are a human being. You have your basic needs. I am not in your shoes. I do not walk in your shoes. I can never relate to what you're going through to make you make that choice. So long as you know that in your mind the choice you have made stands on a particular side and that is where accountability comes in. And I said that there will always be other shoes. We saw Ben going through through it this past few weeks with the show that he did and it was not so much that he did the show but how he handled doing the show because other people did the show. Okay, other people even Costa was in that show but Costa did not receive that kind of backlash.
It was just how he handled it. But you see as he also said we are human and maybe he made a human error at the moment and so have I canceled him? No, I don't think that he's it's gotten to a point of me not working with him ever again, or rather me not listening to his music. But at least you know that what you did did not sit well with people and that's it. Make your choice. Use your art the way you want to use your art. But just know that there are actual consequences to you lending your power either to this side or this side. That's all.
>> So I want to take it back to the crowd.
Accountability and freedom of speech. What do you guys think of that? There's a hand behind there.
>> Hi guys. Hello.
>> Oh, my name is Omad Victor. Stage name um Prince Madani. If you subscribe YouTube, you will find me there. Uh as for me what I can say about this uh conversation that uh speech uh the uh freedom of speech and accountability are at equilibrium and uh uh when you speak you must be accountable of what you are speaking of. Let's say you are you are like uh an activist, you are like a uh an artist, you are somewhere uh composing your songs or writing content before you put it into online you must sit down analyze what you are writing because uh what it has gone outside let's say there is other people that will analyze what you have written whether it is right or or or wrong. Let me tell you that even s sometimes when uh you you let's say you are moving a song for Jenz and uh us like Jenz there's some manners in us that should not be contented uh when like you you are you are an artist sitted down you are writing a gear just because you are moving a song for before you move some before you let me tell Even sometimes when you are writing something or speaking of something when you are now placed that this is what you said is it correct that is where now accountability is coming these things are rhyming and they are going in one in one direction. Yeah that is my point.
>> Thank you very much. Any anybody else?
They were there too.
With all due respect, huh?
Okay. He was okay. We have talked about freedom ofility, but we should look this one going to the former LSK leader. We should look a way of protecting these upcoming artists.
You want me to speak of what I'm seeing.
You want me to express myself but don't forget why I'm ask why am I asking for this protection cuz there are some established artist I'm a visual artist yeah there are some established artist they are already in the pocket of the bosses so they might be trying or they will be trying to press you down in every way I'm sure cuz you can find maybe sometimes my the art works I'm creating are very radical.
They talk to anybody around including those established artists.
Don't forget I'll just go for that man. So, we have to look for a way make sure everybody's free.
Every artist is free to express him or herself.
Um, I have a question for you. You said you need protection. What does protection look like for you? What would that look like? So, if you're addressing Faith, what would you want her to do that would um bring about that protection that you're talking about?
>> Okay.
To protect everybody, but how safe are my laws like Let me say whatever he or she's doing to keep me away from expressing myself.
Yeah.
>> Okay.
Anybody want to respond to that?
I think for me I think from my understanding as especially visual artists I follow somebody called banksy banks is very political uh say as artist they're using our lyrics in court and me I was just being metaphorical I was just I'm a writer so I'm seeing it in the You said you will kill and now are dead.
So hey so you killed them but I was just expressing myself. I've seen cartoonist being arrested and president maybe politician kidnapped. I think from his point I feel like where do we go to in this even over some songs but so luckily sometimes this is why goes back to what N was saying when you have influence they kind of want to carefully carefully it's easy for the same thing oto did but now they're coming for you and you don't know how to protect yourself.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I think that's for me that's my understanding.
>> So I would say that when I was giving my speech I talked about forming associations. Associations are the best way because you're not one person, you're many people. So if it's for visual artists or just association of upcoming young artists and even you can do it by county and so you bring yourselves like this is a good opportunity to come and know who is in this network create a WhatsApp group then think about forming an association.
Now when they know they're addressing 100 200 people then they they tread carefully. I'll give you an example. law society filed a matter with the bloggers association and it's now even at the Supreme Court level they would have never had gotten there had it not been propping up from working with others and so also come to the law society go to Katiba Kenya there's Kenya national commission for human rights Kenya human rights commission there are various organizations that work together with different individuals to represent them remember we were even representing the young man who did who put the president in a coffin. Law society was involved and that's no one. He's a young boy.
He's not involved in any big work. You could say the gatekeeper who are being kept away from all these other opportunities. But law society has been responding at least during my tenure and even this current law society as if they will continue to represent uh people on public interest matters and constitutional matters and there even so many other associations. So that's why and I encourage you form an association but even if you can't get the contacts of these different organizations that you can send a distress call I'm being arrested you know I used to get distress calls on all social medias I would on Facebook on X on some who have my phone number would send me on WhatsApp so it's your ability to just get contacts of these organizations most of them all respond and they're able to come and help you. So don't feel helpless particularly in this day and age where digital uh means of communicating is available on different platforms. They will definitely respond.
Even if you just get their Twitter handle and you're able to send a distress call, they will be able to respond.
>> I think that speaks a lot to the power of community and coming together. So I know we've spoken a lot about um the creative space and artists. I want us to move like you know as just a voter. Um I don't know if you guys are enjoying the conversation so far.
So um we were having a discussion earlier and there's a lot of voter apathy. So not many people even in terms of numbers. So somebody was the one who was asking does someone who doesn't vote have the right to complain and hold the government accountable. So, and this one before even you guys speak, I think I'll I'll push it to the crowd.
But you want to complain and so um does someone who didn't vote have the right to complain and have the right to speak about the government of the day?
>> Okay. For someone who uh did not vote, they don't have any right to complain about the government or how the government is mistreating the citizens because at that time they had that right. It is a democratic right. It is constit in the constitution that you have to vote. It is your right and no one can be uh deny you of your right. So you had that time to go and exercise your democratic right by registering as a voter by voting the government that you feel like will um serve your interests that will make your life uh easy as a citizen of Kenya and the moment you are you did not exercise that right you don't have any say because voting voting is a already have a say.
You are just sitting there.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. My name is Weer. I'm a content creator.
Okay. First and foremost, everyone has got a right whether you have voted the government in or you didn't vote the government in. It's your right to say you are doing this one and this one is not this one is against the civil rights of the people.
And me as an artist uh what I want to say if you are an artist and a good artist it's it would be better if you don't join the politics side cuz on my view like the LSK chair can say when she wants to join the politics she has to resign.
Same way if you're an artist and you want to join the the politics side, you should resign cuz and uh and I hope I'm safe cuz I know Oto is not a good person.
He has got a an a record of thrashing people. So I hope Oto I'm just a content creator.
Uh you know it it will be very sad if we see a Grammy artist like Oto being tied on the road there and cutting sule on the head saying no me as a a fan I feel so sad seeing him there but now I don't have anything to do cuz I'm his fan so I hope he will guide us but anyway what I can say for us for us as content creator us, we have to to vote. But even if you don't vote in, you have the right to say no to anything that is wrong. Thank you so much.
Asant um I I'll answer your question with a question and I'll piggy back from what Faith said about uh unity right we at a very critical time as a country we're headed towards elections now is not the time to ask do you if you don't vote do you have a right to you know speak about the operations and whatn not now is the time to ask why do we have voter apathy it's because we don't have such platforms for civic education their politicians their roles and what they're supposed to do centers in um the people are supposed to tell us about these centers while us as citizens have taken it upon ourselves to use our platforms even with our 500 300 200 followers to tell people hey register go vote it's because Because we don't have such things or we are not supported by um uh big organizations or funding to make sure that access to this information to tell them that this is your right you know to make this choice. So why do we have aathy is because we are not educated civically.
Thank you.
Okay.
All right. We are going to have two here and then two here. So, okay. I'm Stanley from band. So first about everything of expression voters executive presidents.
So this conversation everybody The next question.
Yes. Uh Papa Ga most times uh issues about about voting if the the trend has not been quite well right. You find like last time I voted.
It demoralizes you. That is one. Two, how do we make our content uh creators strong in creativity to have uh not to have uh political loyalty?
How do we how do we make ourselves strong so that we are not carried away by political loyalty? And uh by this I mean uh so that it doesn't affect uh our imagination, honesty or artistic freedom illy to control. How do we work on that?
We are upcoming artists. How do we work to be strong so that we are not carried away or we are not controlled by political loyalty?
If that one could be explained the upcoming artist remember we have time.
How will we work on that?
category. Thank you.
Thank you. So um everybody has a right to uh raise concerns or issues on whatever thing they feel irrespective of whether they voted they voted or not.
That is one. And then number two, any elected um leadership has a responsibility over every Kenyan because then if only people who voted need to complain then it means like we are creating a divide and we are trying to say that them that did not them that voted should be comfortable with the regime when let's say the regime is doing the opposite of what they said. So whenever we are electing and we have many very many people have presented themselves for election and then we the voters we decide to vote or other people decide not to vote. Once that government is elected, they have a responsibility to them that voted, them that did not vote, them that were in diaspora.
Because then if we just say that voters only should complain, what about the children who are born on the third Tuesday of August? Because we do our elections on the second Tuesday of August. So, but their children who will be born into the regime, by the time that regime is going to end, they will be 4 years, 5 years old. they still have a right to complain when things are not right. And then um to address the question of apathy particularly as somebody who is a resident of this county here like a rural resident rural dweller um um over the years we've seen that there's a trend that um has demoralized people. Number one is um I I probably some of you do not uh go to pro especially the rural polling centers where it is already defined. We it's it's an election that gives us an illusion of options. Somebody is trying to make you think that you're choosing or you're electing when in real sense the outcome has already been defined. I mean we already know who is going to be the government. like in Sier for example that's that's that's what people people are like we already know who is going to be there and then based on the way the aspirants have behaved probably pre-election um I would give an example of where I come from I come from a leg of zonga not pond the other side where we have sat town and you'd find that it's already defined people are like sata so like why why do we even have to vote and that is why you find people winning with very small tiny votes like the last bi-elections we had in Lagounja where uh in a place where we have 60,000 registered voters only 20,000 were able to show up and that 20,000 was able to give us an MP. So basically it's just a system that wants to make us think we are choosing when in real sense we we are not choosing. Thank you.
Hello. Um, for me, I'd like to just address the question he had on artists and the political loyalty. Uh, personally, I think it just depends on the indivi individual. So, at this point, it's your character and what values you hold. So if you haven't built on your character, you're definitely going to be flaky. So So in terms of uh the way maybe said like if you don't have money and the in the same situation was like so it's just a character thing and your values. So if it doesn't align with your values, are you strong enough to say um this doesn't align with my values? So >> thank you so much. So there's a lot that has been said and there's a lot that can still be said but time. So um even as you contribute to that last point but also give us your parting shot. Yeah.
>> Um about uh whether you should complain whether you vote or not. Um my stand is very simple.
You do not lose your citizenship as a Kenyan when you do not vote. the bill of rights still apply to you and you still pay taxes whether you voted or you didn't vote and so the leadership that is in place whichever way it goes is supposed to serve you. It's supposed to serve whoever voted didn't vote or didn't even vote for them. That's how politics or rather that's how democracy is supposed to work. However, it is not very helpful of me to come and sit here after all this work has been done and tell you that it is okay for you to not vote. It is important. It is very important that you register to vote and then you go have your say at the ballot.
But I will also not stand here and call somebody unpatriotic because they did not vote or say that they are less of a Kenyan because they did not vote. It is easier as she said that we handle why these people do not want to vote. Why did all those how many uh young people didn't vote in the last election? How many millions? Why did they not turn out to vote? No. So those are the issues that you're talking about that it is preconceived. So I do not want to go try because so you do not. So we need to remind that person who is saying that that they have the opportunity to change that outcome.
him and the thousands and hundreds of thousands of people that also think that way. See, that makes sense. I'm not being in the middle. That's just the truth of what it is. Um, as a parting shot, we are here because or I'm sitting here because I am a content creator. I have done okay for myself and I I am here because uh the the organizers thought there was something important that I could say to you, which is this.
And I've said it throughout the time I've sat here that do not diminish um the ability or the power or the responsibility that you have with your voice, with your art. Okay? Use it and use it well or use it wisely. I'm not saying that you're going to be a saint.
Nobody is. Neither am I. We have our mistakes that we make. Okay? But there are things that you can control. And if if if if it is about just walking around or using your social media or your content to push for a better country, why not do that? Because it's going to help you in the long run. All these things usually come around. So let's meet on the internet and let's spread the good message. Okay.
Uh I think I don't believe in this.
uh I think is a narrative that is being pedled so that it created more apathy because people don't have the civic awareness of what their rights are or what their choices are.
station.
It's not like this is a job of IBC to bring this thing close.
2,000 people say 2,000 will walk almost 30 km just to go reg. Registration should not be a job like if I quit as tedious as it is right now and I think for me this is one main thing that has caused uh less voter registration especially in rural areas every compared to here so I don't feel Oh, I don't believe in that. I believe people are not have not been uh prepared civically enough. Uh in 2022, I was doing a civic uh drive uh in eight counties. uh whenasa even registration we went applied and we got a bunch of IBC people and walk through eight uh eight eight counties we got 2 million newly registered voters but only 300k voted so 1.7 didn't vote and I asked like why did they not vote and I said and now this goes to my friend was saying like for office like me I think I treat music differently maybe from other people treat it like office 8 to inspiration inspiration. No, this is the office.
Yeah. 8 to six I close home. And I think when when you choose to start treating your work uh not as a hobby or something you just like and you treat it like hey any job number eight what do I need to make? I need to make beats. Do I need to write? Do I need to call producers? Do I need to look for collaborators?
In a so serious that you it's like you invest for us that are stepping up for leadership. I don't think leadership is something I believe in my community in a situation as a private citizen that have done more than my member of parliament in a in a feel some type of way like why why do we have this guy if only community leaders are doing more than elected leaders.
as a community leader you can only do enough and stuff. You can't do that as a community leader. You have to be a legislative so that you like 50 years we need to do this and that.
This is not something you can do as an artist yet.
This is why we are stepping up for these offices. uh question like many artist and I think that's the most the biggest fear of fans at that point everybody's individuality it goes down to your values and what you believe in and every choice has a consequence very prepared for the consequences is the same conscious.
So it's the same consciousness.
And we can't we can't be mad at that point.
I was there personally as doing my work that is not music but people didn't cancel mentation and I will also say oh so those places also you don't just shy away from going and then complain from sometimes you go where those people are and you raise your Adel was there. I think that's what she said. She went there and say like, "Hey, you guys have been here the history of, you know, the European people and Africans when she stood her ground." So these spaces are not only those rooms. Don't shy from those rooms to get in those rooms. Is the same way we don't shy from getting to leadership.
As creatives be as conscious as possible, but national consciousness consciousness consciousness.
And I think for us this is for the most important reason of voting. power parliament cuz parliament passes every bill and that's why parliament passes every bill% of parliament but our stctures and I think I feel like they don't do it.
So even if I do the right thing at the wrong time, I'm at the wrong thing at the right time.
That's very interesting. Um maybe to start with your question.
>> Uh you know court orders must be obeyed.
We have already seen the court issued Katiba orders barring our government from setting up uh procuring or in any manner setting up these Ebola centers in our country. That's kudos for them even for making that decision. Remember we are coming out from a country that they used to you remember the story of the red phone decision in NIV but now we have our judges who are risking life and limb and deciding they are going to issue orders against government. So for me I always say first of all let's get that court order. The second thing is to ensure they enforce that court order and that is why it it uh needs the concerted voices of many people to say there's a court order why aren't you obeying that court order and number two is to hold individual persons accountable you see once they refuse to obey a court order you look for who is the responsible party who supposed to implement that court order is it the PS or the CS and you look for them to be held or put in jail you We are government. We are the government. Everyone is okay. But when come for you as Maxwell or as Michael, then you change. You realize for government, LSK has an history of making of ensuring the enforcement of orders even going for personal individuals and that is what should happen. And you even as an activist or someone who wants to make change, you would be part and parcel of those who are filing those petitions and seeking those people to be held accountable. And we refuse to give audience to those people who are refusing to obey court orders because they must be obeyed. And that's the unfortunate thing because I remember people telling me on my ex that why should we go to the courts yet they will not obey court orders. We will use each and every means that is available.
you will use the courts to give us those orders. If the courts give those orders, the next thing is to fight for enforcement. And then there's other civil ways of self-expression to tell the government you must obey these court orders because this is our lives that is being put at risk and there are so many orders that you know the beauty is once the record is there that these orders have been issued then you try and identify and that's why you would see police were using balaclavvers trying to remove the number plates from the cars because they know the implication when you're held as an individual person there's a reason why I would go around to different police stations and police were not happy and some were even really scared. Why? Because you identify them as individuals. I say from above that is how you make difference. That is how you make the change. It's never easy but you must continue doing it until it drills in the minds and hearts of a politician. Remember some of these politicians you're seeing doing the things they're doing. They're from the Moy era. They are from the Moy era and are straying and are striving to bring back authoritarianism and dictatorship into this country. Forgetting we're in a new dispensation. We're in a new order.
And it's up to you in this age to fight for that dispensation and order to fight for rightful expression and to fight that court orders must be a hell. And that's why even me I call out sometimes even different judges and courts because I tell them don't think you you're living in another country. You're living here with us. So water.
So you must remember as you hold that pen you're deciding between the life and death of somebody.
I remember the the when we were in court about the uh KDF case, Kenyans in large numbers joined until the system was jammed. Why? Because everyone felt that people are being killed right now and here you are deleing picking calls in between a decision.
And you see it was personal. It was not a question of us rallying and telling people. People knew the court decision was being made. Everyone joined the platform being participating and ensuring you see even these courts live in a certain demography. They have children who ask questions. Remember even during the Jenzi protest politicians children were calling them out. They were saying you're an embarrassment. You have gone and voted.
I remember one particular politician start brushing your comedian skills because we are tired of you. We put you in there to make a difference but you've gone back and re against the voice of the people and never say this thing that we already know who is going to win. The reason why that is possible is because you do not go to vote. Remember if 60 people are registered to vote in an area and only 20 votes it means it gives them a playing field of 40 or maybe even in the 20 10 came and voted and you've given them another percentage and so it's an issue of trying to make it realistic how many actually went to the voting station but if 60 all vote tell me how will they steal those votes it is this notion of being told your vote will be stolen is the where people are failing in their in their duty. I'm saying you're still a citizen whether you vote or not, but be a citizen who participates.
Elections is one day. People wake up 3:00 in the morning.
I've seen lines from 3:00 in the morning till you know the end time 5:00 p.m. or whatever extension based on what time they started the voting process faithfully standing some even demanding or ballot boxes to any staff already watching vigilantly till the end that is patriotism not for a given individual but to yourself when when prices are high we all suffering We are all going to suffer the same. You know, I saw people on X saying we hope what government bo there's no fuel that is 100 for anyone. We're going to suffer the same repercussion, the same pain. And remember as much as people are are saying these matu drivers have failed us at the end of the day who matu drivers when tax increase where do they pass it off to passengers >> to you passengers they don't care they are not losing anything because they are making they're still going to make their margins and their profit. So what they do is if it was 100 or 200 or you will be walking halfway or you start walking one way you come back with a tattoo coming back for but the people who will suffer will be still me and you. So register to vote and today IBC is here. So everyone who is saying that because we are not educated and your creators pick this opportunity to learn get the right information and I love because jenz's are good in facteing fact check then share that information in whatever way you feel best you know I've seen different contents being shared you know crazy can I loved one that he did on police the way they leave Um they leave a place for today they quelled a demonstration helmet now his lovers everything room I don't know if it's a one room or just metallic mug he tries to fry an egg things are all over the place mosquitoes in a muma when then the boss calls him when he has a whole spread on the table. Powerful and very short skit. A very powerful depiction to remind those who are guarding us that you you're not even your masters are the ones benefiting yet your life is on the line.
You're not benefiting at all at the end of the day. And you as a citizen must remember your loyalty to the constitution first to do what is right.
that if you go out, you're shooting other people out there, you're going to be held responsible.
And you know the cases that have been gone, even if they are few, holding individual police officers accountable.
You see how others react thereafter because now they are scared because they say, we are assured that nothing will happen.
We can just kill. But now you they're seeing each other being arraigned in court and that should be the way.
That's what should remind us of how we ought to be patented. So don't feed into that notion. Tell one another if we all go and vote, they will not be able to steal that vote. When you don't vote, someone has the opportunity to play around to that vote that you do not go and cast. So go and cast that vote and try and identify or find leaders and ask them hard questions. start from your MCA. MCA should be someone that you all know or your member of parliament.
But and if it's civic education, I think these are things that we can organize and do and ensure people know who are your leaders or what their responsibilities should be as they take up this different mantles and why it's important for you to go out there. Do those skits, do those poems, do those um short music um promos that you have. Use any medium that you have once you get that information because that's how the message will spread. You might have 10 followers, 100 followers, a million followers, but slowly the message will permeate. Let us create a revolution that is unstoppable of young people. Why aren't young people registering to vote?
Why aren't young people coming out to vote on that particular day? When there's an unstoppable movement that stems and starts from you, not the politicians, from you, there'll be no reason why every single one of you will not be at that ballot. And I leave my parting short is the artist as the ruler.
>> The artist has the power, has the privilege and the audacity to change thinking of so many people. You can be a conscience that reminds and pricks people.
Why can you sit and enjoy food on the table while someone the next door neighbor is boiling stones?
Why can you sit and continue walking comfortably in the streets while you're watching your brothers and sisters being shot down one by one? You remember the artist as the ruler. Take your power.
Thank you.
I hope as we finish this session that you've gotten something and if you felt that it has been decided for you it has not. If you felt that your vote is not important it is important. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you for coming for giving us your wisdom and for you for listening to us and asking questions and participating asanti sana sana sana. Um, yeah. I think that's it for me.
Yes. Yes.
Thank you very much uh for amazing uh beautiful insights. I think e session we need to have it again very active. You people are very very active in such matters and it is amazing and very amazing to see that all of you here are uh really really yanning for change in our country. So as our guests uh leave uh one by one.
Yes.
So, uh, photographers, photographers Okay, that doesn't sing.
Thank you very much.
talking different from the mouth. So this is what That's our
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