Film Censorship In Kenya

Debates about content regulation have been dominated by pro-censorship and anti-censorship arguments. More recently there has been emergence of repressive laws and rising attacks on creative artists. Increased fear of a robust and aggressive creative industry by government cannot also be ignored. Countries like Australia and South Africa have come out strongly in pushing for change to legislation and a review of the classification guidelines. In Kenya, the Film and Classification Boards proposed has sparked mixed reactions mainly from Social media bloggers, advertisers and artists. There have been attempts by religious groups to lobby KFCB to withdraw and review the bill. There have also been calls from the creative industry that the bill be

British colonial film policy in its African colonies began in the late 1920s. This was to ensure the spirit of freedom and independence was not transmitted to colonized audiences. Heins (1993) exposes that film censorship was just as important to British imperial ambitions as the suppression of African culture and the efficient penetration of education that was devoid of development centric knowledge and Christianity.

Couvares (1996) further posits that this racist and paternalistic attitude was best exemplified by Kenya’s Select Committee on Film Censorship that advocated for segregation with regard to both exhibition and censorship of films. The Committee placed all Africans on a much lower mental category than European children. It also perceived the entire African population as extremely vulnerable, psychologically immature and without the mental capacity to consume certain films without

Mandate of KFCB

According to Mangera (2014), the KFCB board was established by the Films and Stage Plays act of 1962 which came into force in 1963. It was mainly to regulate the creation, broadcasting, possession, distribution and exhibition of films by examining them for content, imposing age restrictions and giving consumer advice about various films. The Act gives the board the power to approve or refuse to approve films and posters. The Act also states that approval is not to be granted to films that in the board's opinion, prejudice offend decency or are undesirable in the public interest.

In addition, the Kenya Information and Communications Amendment Act of 2013 gives the board the mandate to monitor television stations in order to ensure content meant for adult audiences is not aired during watershed period of 5am to 10pm. The board also classifies and rates films by examining them and giving them a certificate of approval along with its rating of 0 to 4. This scale indicates the impact of the film: "low", "mild", "moderate" or "strong". This then corresponds to the general rating of the film: GE (general exhibition), PG (parental guidance recommended), 16 (not suitable for persons under the age of 16) and 18 (not suitable for persons under the age of