Dr Hassan Wario, speaking at the opening ceremony of the Broadcast Film and Music Africa Conference (AITEC) in Nairobi, has called for local television broadcasters to shun imported soaps for local content, saying this will help the industry to grow.
According to the sports, arts and culture cabinet secretary, the government will not relent on its call for television stations to have 60 per cent local content, saying the broadcasters have a role in financing local productions.
ldquo;In all Mexican soaps it is common for the bad person to die at the end and we hope and pray that the importation of these soaps will follow a similar sequence,” he told delegates.
He said Africa must learn to consume its own if various industries are to take off and create job opportunities for the youth.
He added that the Kenyan government was looking into making it easier to acquire licences to film in the country as a way of increasing revenue in the sector.
“When creative cultural industries drive the economy and shape the education sector then Kenya will break the poverty barrier,” Wario added.
He further urged participants at the conference to grab opportunities that are set to arise from the digital migration, especially for content producers saying there was an increasing appetite for local productions by the audience.
Meanwhile, the government has been urged to fund the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation so as to grow local content with speakers saying there was still inadequate content for broadcasters to satisfy the 60 per cent government requirement.
The conference has brought together more than 130 delegates representing: government, stakeholders in the broadcast film and music industry, aspiring artists and scriptwriters as well as content developers from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, India, the UK and Australia.
