#BFMA8: KFCB’s proposed amendments to Cap 222 law targeting new advancements in tech

Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) assured the broadcasting and films community that the proposed amendments to Cap 222, also known as the Films and Stage Plays Act, are not ways of stifling creativity but instead ways to modernise the law in a bid to regulate the new technology coming up in the sector.

This was said by, Emma Irungu head of broadcast division, KFCB, during the recently concluded Broadcast Film and Music Africa, an AITEC Africa event, at the Kenya National Theatre, Nairobi, where she remarked that most of the issues that were covered in the Cap 222 act have really changed especially because of technology, globalisation and even liberalisation of the air waves.

“The changes have brought opportunities and also challenges because you realise that when you talk of regulation sometimes it is taken to mean something negative, given that there is no consumer preferences in the light of consumer rights awareness, those are some of the challenges that we face,”  said Irungu.

According to a post by Soft Kenya, the Cap 222 was enacted as an Act of Parliament in 1963 to ensure that films screened to the public are in line with national aspirations and culture.

“Of late we have some people use the word bashing when we introduced some of the amendments in the cap 222 to take care of the changes that are in the market right now, in terms of technology, and we talked about globalisation, when law comes after the practice it becomes quite difficult to readjust and there is that misconception that the industry is being controlled, but fact of the matter is that it’s the regulation for all of us to be at a level playing ground for all the players,” she added.