Eric Omondi vs Ezekiel Mutua: it’s Kenyan creatives who have lost

Last week, we were treated to the running battle between Ezekiel Mutua and Eric Omondi being escalated to the point of Eric’s arrest as the former’s government perch at KFCB (Kenya Film Classification Board) finally came good for the purpose of his nursed grudge.

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You see, Eric Omondi has been going back and forth with Kenya’s self-imposed moral police and busy body, Ezekiel Mutua and while things seemed to have died down, it is now clear that the moralist was seeking ways to legally frustrate the comedian.

You see, Eric Omondi has been riding a wave he created with his show, Wife Material. The show was in its second season when KFCB seemed to have come upon the random realization that he was shooting and distributing the show illegally as he had not gotten any permits.

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The move read like some sort of low IQ soap opera plotline. Ezekiel Mutua had clearly nursed his grudge against Eric Omondi for an entire year and is only now acting after sharpening his blade. And the crazy thing is that the likes of Eddie Butita are clapping and cheering him on. I think this goes beyond simple schadenfreude and it has allowed Eddie Butita to harbour ideas that Eric Omondi’s hardships open a way for him to establish himself.

Ezekiel Mutua is not doing all this nonsense because he found Wife Material vulgar. He isn’t doing this because of permits. He is doing this out of spite and to massage his ego. That is why He demanded an apology from Eric Omondi. What personal insult had Eric Omondi’s show sent at the man? Or, alternatively, explain to me why he and only he needed an apology when he argued that the show was bad for Kenyan society.

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Thing is, whether or not you care for Omondi’s show, we are allowing a pocket tyrant to nurse delusions of grandeur, the chains of which are often too light to be felt until they are firmly in place. Do you think Ezekiel Mutua will stop at Eric Omondi’s doorstep? Do you think Eric Omondi’s head os the only one this petty moral police will collect?

No! Such fragile egos as his demand that he keeps pushing the limits of his power and soon, he will even be trying to police thought. When I look at the man, I am reminded of the book 1984 by George Orwell. He is looking to make Kenya the complete dystopia. We have an economy in the doldrums. Kenyans are complaining about it online through the use of creative and humorous memes. What is to say Ezekiel Mutua will not go after such content generators?

Eric Omondi arrested over ‘Wife Material season 2’

Eric’s show was bullshit but it wasn’t on terrestrial media. It was online and had an age limit restriction. It could easily have been ignored. Just because I did not like the show doesn’t mean we forget he has freedom of expression and speech. By going after this inalienable right, Ezekiel Mutua has shown that he doesn’t care for Kenyan freedoms. We should be very worried that Uhuru Kenyatta in all his wisdom saw fit to give a man like him the reigns of power over an entire generation that was raised on the belief they had freedoms. Because should things go south, they will do so brutally.

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