Film praised by Kenya board’s head is banned

NAIROBI: Kenyan authorities have banned a film that tells the love story of two women on the grounds that it promotes lesbianism, but activists said the ban would only promote interest in the movie.

Rafiki, which means friend in Swahili, was this week invited to premiere at next month’s Cannes Film festival – the first Kenyan film to receive such an invite.

The Kenya Film Classification Board announced the ban yesterday and said in a tweet, “Anyone found in its possession will be in breach of law”, referring to a colonial-era Kenyan law under which gay sex is punishable by 14 years in jail.

Board spokesperson Nelly Muluka tweeted: “Our culture and laws recognise family as the basic unit of society. The (board) cannot, therefore, allow lesbian content to be accessed by children in Kenya.”

Director Wanuri Kahiu said: “I’m disappointed because Kenyans already have access to watch films that have LGBT content on Netflix and in international films shown in Kenya and permitted by the classification board itself.

“So to ban a Kenyan film because it deals with something already happening in society seems like a contradiction,” she said.

The board’s head, Ezekiel Mutua, had praised the film earlier. “It is a story about the realities of our time and challenges our kids are facing especially with their sexuality,” he’d told HOT 96 FM radio.

“It’s appalling, a shame… Kenyans will view the film whether it has been banned or not, they will find a way to view it,” said Lorna Dias, a lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights activist. Ezekiel Mutua has probably created enough of a platform to make the least interested people curious.”

The ban coincides with a landmark case brought by gay rights campaigners to repeal Kenya’s law on gay sex on the grounds that it deprives sexual minorities of basic rights.

The film is adapted from an award-winning short story, Jambula Tree, by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko.

The board used # KFCBbansLesbianFilm, that sparked a barrage of supportive tweets from Kenyans who decried homosexuality. – Reuters/African News Agency (ANA)