Kileleshwa Member of County Assembly Robert Alai has come to the defence of the Kibera hotelier who charged French YouTuber Kino Yves Ksh800 for a plate of Ugali and the local delicacy, matumbo.
According to Alai, the YouTuber should have been charged Ksh20,000 since he recorded the hotelier and his business premises in his content that would generate views online.
The MCA alleged that the YouTuber swindled the hotelier for views as he questioned whether the latter was consulted before he was recorded.
"I support the kiosk owner for charging for premium services. Did he seek consent to record him and his state of affairs?" He stated in a post on his social media pages.
Kenyans were on the hotelier's case online after a video emerged of him asking the YouTuber to pay Ksh800 for ugali, a price that most of those complaining found to be exaggerated.
Alai's remarks, conversely, necessitated some individuals to consider their stance and analyse it from his vantage point.
"This is a twist and another great perspective because yeah the YouTuber would have benefited from that recording. Somehow now justifiable," one online user stated.
Some, however, disagreed with Alai, arguing that the hotelier would equally have benefited from his business being advertised by the posting of the videos online.
Alai further requested the Kibera hotelier's contact to offer him support amid the criticism he faced online.
"Please share with me the contacts of the kiosk owner. He is being crucified for charging a small fee for what someone was going to gain much more out of," he stated in another post.
French YouTuber Kino Yves, a travel vlogger, has 162,000 followers on YouTube and 151,000 followers on TikTok, with some of his posts accumulating hundreds of thousands of views.
The popular video, which the YouTuber uploaded on his YouTube channel with the title "Scammed in Africa's Biggest Slam," has, up to the time of writing this, accumulated 98,000 views, with the post on his TikTok account having over 360,000 views.
In the video, he recorded the hotelier asking him to pay up to Ksh800 for Ugali and matumbo, but complained that he knew he was being conned.
