Corruption is still an obstacle to eradicating piracy. Take this for instance:
Matatu owners in Kiambu have declared war on Music Copyright Society of Kenya, who had recently started their work on the Kiambu roads.
The problem is not on the activity, but how it is being conducted. The matatu owners claim that the MCSK officials stop the matatus, harass and extort money from them, instead of doing their work legitimately.
This is obviously a case for the government. Please act... I'm out.
Kone Sekou | Editor
My e-mail : kone [at] ghafla [dot] co [dot] ke
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MCSK is infamous for using such tactics. However the Matatu Owners Association, the owners of cyber cafes, pubs and restaurants have to be a bit proactive in confronting MCSK.
I suggest that, as a matter of practice, always insist on the MCSK officials identifying themselves with their names and staff IDs and if they're accompanied by police officers, they should also identify themselves.
Remember that, under the law, MCSK (or even KAMP and PRSK) have no powers of arrest or seizure of goods. Their job is to demand license fees on behalf of their members. If a music user declines to pay license fees, they have no right to extort money from the user or forcibly coerce them to pay.
All complaints of abuse of powers MUST be reported to the nearest police together with the names and IDs of the people involved. You can also report these cases to the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) directly. KECOBO is online at www.copyright.go.ke, they're also on facebook and twitter.
Thank you for your patriotic thoughts. We will push it foward.
Kone Sekou Thursday, 09 February 2012 09:10 Comment Link