Wanjiku Mburu, commonly known as Mama Baha, has at last explained why Royal Media Services (RMS) is said to be withholding payment from Machachari actors and others who appeared in a number of well-known Kenyan programs that helped shape the country’s film industry.
Wanjiku acknowledged that the accusations against RMS are accurate and provided a reason for why the business refuses to pay them despite showing repeats of their programs.
“Well without beating around the bush, what you heard is true and you know there is something that you sign called a contract. The program is not ours, it’s theirs and it is unfortunate that we didn’t sign the royalties contract at the time.
“So there is nothing much we can do. We have to accept the outcome because the company can do whatever they want to do with it. It’s been like 10 years and things have changed over that period.
When given a contract, ask questions about it and also look for finer details in the contract and no one is at fault, it’s just it was not our time. That’s all,” Wanjiku explained.
This comes a few weeks after Dennis Mugo, also known as OJ, hit out at Citizen TV for airing reruns of Tahidi High without paying the actors.
When asked what steps she thought the government should take to strengthen the creative sector, Wanjiku said that it needed to understand the demands of artists better and take on some of their managerial responsibilities.
“I would like to tell the government to understand their product and the artists. Artists are free-spirited people. I think you see what happens in Hollywood, people have their managers.
“The artist’s work is to create Don’t leave him/her to do these other things. That’s how the government can empower artists. It should tell people to create then it manages their work and micro-manage because an artist can’t think of other things. An artist’s work is to entertain,” Waniku added.
She remarked that developing one’s own character might be difficult, and in her conclusion she recommended that artists concentrate on entertaining rather than worrying about financial concerns.
