Emmy Kosgei’s Father, Bishop Jackson Kosgei Causes National Outrage with This Announcement

He is not the kind of person to make the news for all the wrong reasons but an announcement he made today had him labeled as the ‘enemy of the people’

Speaking at a press conference yesterday as the chairman of Kenya Film Classification Board, Bishop Jackson expressed concern that Netflix was showing some films/series that may be inappropriate for underage people.

“Some of the movies sampled from the network have ratings of suitability for 13-year children, yet they contain classifiable elements such as extreme violence, nudity, promotion of irresponsible sexual behavior, inappropriate language and drug abuse.” He said adding that the content on Netflix “attacks the very foundation of the country’s national values.”

‘As a progressive country, we cannot afford to be passive recipient of foreign content that could corrupt the moral values of our children and compromise our national security. If such content is allowed without scrutiny by our regulatory standards, the country is bound to open a floodgate for extremist and radicalizing content, particularly within View-on-Demand and Pay platforms.’ he said.

Bishop Kosgei speaking at the event

An announcement that irked many Facebook users who felt that the KFCB was becoming too much. Here are some of the reactions to the announcement:

Fred Heisenberg: Are you saying you want to regulate the internet? Is there even a law for that? When you say …. “cultural” and “moral” grounds…. Have you sorted out the corruption allegations at KFCB yourselves…? Do you have the personnel or the equipment to review Netflix’s database of movies and documentaries…. Or you are just making noise for a useless cause?

Munene Ngati Ng’ang’a: Which content on Netflix is radicalising people or is extremist?
If we are a progressive country as stated by one your members, should we censor works of art? Aren’t we adults who can decide for ourselves what we want to watch?

P Chiira Maina: A firm reminder that sites like PornHub (http://pornhub.com), tumblr (http://tumblr.com), Reddit (http://reddit.com) and others that host much more nudity and in some cases, violence have not been regulated. And they do offer video services. Why is this board so concerned with Netflix? Rumour is that the board is interested in bribes. How do Kenyans benefit if you regulate just one site while the silly caveats that you will put in place can be circumvented by anyone with a working knowledge of computers and the Internet?

While others felt that this was a good move by KFCB:

Sandy Nyandusi Lastborn:Go…go GO ON kfcb… nice job! They must be regulated because this country has a gava. This country is not a dumping site for European rejects of content! We have a saying about it: when a madman walks naked it is his kinsmen who feel the same. If Netflix has no shame showing our children pornography we are concerned and we too feel the shame. AAAI Wakwende!

Mellissa Banda: Great move there! hatutaki pornographic content here, for the sake of children and youth. I like Netflix, though. I really hope they will comply. it’s not a big deal.