Ezekiel Mutua on claims of sexually harassing female staff, threatens to walk out of live TV set

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) CEO Dr Ezekiel Mutua threatened to walk out of NTV interview set Thursday night, when a question on the board’s unhealthy audit report was posed to him by a fellow guest.

Brenda Wambui, who was a guest on the station’s Sidebar show, alongside Dr Ezekiel Mutua, asked the KFCB boss to account for Ksh3.04 million, which a 2016 audit report shows could not be traced.

“Dr Mutua has painted his organisation as effective. He has also come across as insinuating that ‘haters do not like him because he is making an impact’. However, the 2016 Auditor General’s report on KFCB showed it was a qualified one, to mean there were monies the agency could not account for. These include Ksh374, 400, outstanding payment of Ksh204, 000, outstanding imprest of Ksh1.4 million, trade receivables and trade payables of Ksh1.06 million. That was the reason why the office of the Auditor General could not give KFCB a clean bill of health on matters audit,” said Ms Wambui.

A visibly angry Dr Mutua directed his anger at the host, Ken Mijungu, for not informing – in advance – that he was going to respond to, among others, questions on the agency’s audit report.

“…I will not deal with mundane and trivial issues. It is disappointing! We can’t come here… You [Ken Mijungu] should have told me we are discussing [KFCB] audit, I would have come with it [audit report]. Every public organisation is audited, including yours [Nation Media Group].

‘I WILL WALK OUT OF YOUR STUDIO’

“If you had told me it [the interview] was about KFCB audit, I would be answering her [Brenda Wambui]. You [Mr Mijungu] publicly stated that we were coming to discuss ‘whose job is it to police society?’ So, let us stick there. Let us set that record straight and respect each other. Otherwise, I would be happy to go and sleep. And, if that is not respected, I will walk out of your studio.

“We can’t come here to show disrespect. These are young people. I am over 50 years old. So, I would not come to studio at night to quarrel with Brenda. If they do not have respect, please educate them that it begins from these bad manners. Next time you call me, you will have to call the other MDs or CEOs [who I am of the same level with],” said Dr Ezekiel Mutua.

Dr Mutua, nonetheless, answered, though briefly, some of the issues which led to the auditor general poking holes on the usage of funds at the KFCB.

“The audit queries that I have are as old as even before I joined KFCB. For instance, the classification stickers that were to be fixed on DVDs were overtaken by technology. There is an audit query on that [because money was used to acquire those stickers]. However, dealing with that is easy: I just write to the CS [ICT] and tell him that spending money on the stickers was a dead investment, given technology has rendered them useless,” said Dr Mutua.

Mr Mijungu also asked Dr Mutua to comment on claims by a middle-aged woman – who calls herself Nancy Wambui on Twitter – that the KFCB CEO sexually harassed her, when she was working at the agency.

Nancy recently took to the micro-blogging site to write: “I am a former employee at KFCB. This ‘righteous’ [expletive] used to harass all female staff. He always insisted on long hugs and inappropriate touching. When I complained, I would be asked to quit. So, I did [quit]. All he did was masturbate in his corner office. Ezekiel Mutua, I am going to court,” said Nancy, whose Twitter handle is @NancyWambui94.

‘CLAIMS THAT I SEXUALLY HARRASED A WOMAN’: A NON-ISSUE – MUTUA

Responding to the said-Nancy, Dr Mutua said: “KFCB clarified that issue. We have never had anyone like that [in our office] before or during my term. So, that is a non-issue.  I, however, expect it [people to fabricate claims to make me look bad]. For the last three years, we have raised the bar of moral standards very high. The woman’s claims have no basis. Anyone can sit anywhere [and construct a false claim against you]. Just ignore the woman’s claims,” said Dr Ezekiel Mutua.

The KFCB boss further said he won’t sue the said-Nancy for defamation.

“Why would I take any legal action against that woman? The Twitter account she used to publish those allegations is fake; [it is] a parody account. However, if she was a real person, then I would have taken her to court. The fact that no one went to court… Remember her post ended in: ‘Let’s meet in court’,” said Dr Ezekiel Mutua.

The film agency board CEO christened ‘moral police’ said KFCB would continue monitoring artistes’ on-stage performances to ensure that they serve their fans with decent shows.