Film board takes the moral fight to children gamblers

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB)will use the Scouts movement to fight gambling among children, chairman Ezekiel Mutua has said.

Speaking during the scouting movement Founder's Day celebration in Nyeri, Mr Mutua said that KFCB will partner with the Kenya Scouts Association to fight betting that has taken root among the youth.

The KFCB boss argued that the scouting movement's moral code was a perfect way to battle the menace that has even affected school-going children.

“The scouts movement in itself bears moral codes which we feel will help in the fight against betting. Through their programmes we hope to empower them with knowledge that they can pass on to their peers,” said Mr Mutua.

Partnering with Kenya Scouts movement will see KFCB introducing mentorship programmes to boy scouts and girl guides.

This way, KFCB hopes to tap into the biggest youth movement in Africa with a membership of more than 1.4 million youth.

“With their numbers we hope to reach out to young people and teach them that they cannot rely on the ideology of acquiring wealth quickly through betting. We actually encourage more youth to become scouts,” said the KFCB boss.

READ: Mutua targets EABL, Keroche over beer adverts

Mobile cinemas

Mr Mutua also announced plans to revive mobile cinemas as part of KFCB’s rebranding programme.

The venture dubbed Cinema Mashinani will be a remake of the traditional mobile cinemas which was locally known as Watoto kaeni chini (sit down, children).

According to Mr Mutua, the programme will be rolling out in the next six months and is currently being piloted in Isiolo County.

“Those traditional films were a way of teaching morals based on the local setup. So Kenyans can expect to see those mobile cinemas in their villages,” said Mr Mutua.

The films to be showed will be produced on location and the cast will involve residents of the areas where they will be shown.

“We will be going to homes and using a select family set up to film movies based on the cultural and local setup mainly to portray and teach good morals,” said the chair.

The mobile cinemas were a common thing in the 1990s where films would be shown at village shopping centres and schools.

Movies on reels were projected onto white screens and drew children to the film shows.

With the advancement in technology, more people could afford television sets and eventually the shows were phased out.

READ: Board wants licences of media houses breaching free-to-air rules revoked

KFCB will, however, reintroduce the shows as part of their plan to support local talent.

“Unlike the popular belief, KFCB is not here to ban movies and local content.

"We want to support local talent and through this we can draw talent from the grassroots and also promote discipline and morality,” said Mr Mutua.