Days after Tanzania government banned Tanzanian Bongo star Diamond Platinumz from performing in and out the country,Jibebe hit maker has every reason to smile after Kenya Film Classification Board CEO Ezekiel Mutua said he is free to perform in Kenya.
The directives comes fews days ahead of Diamond’s concert in Kenya dubbed ‘Wasafi festival”.
Speaking to Pilipili FM, Mutua said Kenya is not bound by the decision of Tanzania’s regulatory body Baraza la Sanaa la Taifa(BASATA) to ban the singer over his controversial song Mwanza.
Mutua explained that he cannot stop or arrest the Wasafi CEO based on the neighbouring country’s ‘morality’ laws but noted that the singer is subject to Kenyan laws once he jets in.
”We are Kenyans, we are not Tanzanians but they have been banned to perform outside Tanzania so it is purely their decision. Have seen the board has written their statement, they have banned them from performing even outside Tanzania.
“Their statement says they will jail them for life if they fail to follow the order. I don’t think I have anything to say, we are not Tanzanians and they’ve been banned by the Tanzanian government, if they perform it’s their own business, I cannot arrest them because they have been banned in Tanzania, I can only arrest them with the laws of Kenya.
“There is no issue, it is not me it is them but if they come here and commit crime in the event, we will deal with them with Kenyan law. It is not really our decision, we have nothing to do with it, whether they come or not, we are not involved in any way and cannot stop them from coming because of Tanzania. We can only ban them because of our laws here,” said Mutua.
Diamond Platnumz and his Wasafi label mate Rayvanny were banned from performing in and out of Tanzania by BASATA after they performed the outlawed “Mwanza” song during their Wasafi Festival tours. The body claimed that the song was lewd.