Gender Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aisha Jumwa and her Public Service counterpart Moses Kuria on Monday, February 12, disagreed over who should communicate the State's plans to overhaul the distribution of royalties to artists collected by government agencies.
The disagreement ensued after CS Kuria remarked that President William Ruto’s administration was fast-tracking amendments to the Copyright Act with the aim of creating a government-run Collective Management Organisation.
CS Kuria revealed that going forward, all royalties to artists and proceeds from music copyrights would be paid through eCitizen.
Replying to Kuria via X, CS Jumwa stated that the mandate of making pronouncements revolving around CMOs and royalties falls under her docket.
“There are ongoing discussions with stakeholders in the industry to streamline it,” she stated
“Once discussions are concluded, the ministry will pronounce itself on the next course of action.”
CS Kuria in his statement, had claimed that there were cartels in the government who were scamming artists by shortchanging them in the payment of royalties.
As a mitigation measure, he explained that the artists would register their works through the eCitizen platform and monitor their royalties in real-time.
Artists have been complaining that MCSK has been paying out peanuts despite collecting millions in revenue.
CS Jumwa however, reckoned that Kuria’s sentiments may have been fuelled by the belief in the one government approach championed by the Kenya Kwanza administration.
The one-government approach means that all senior government officials operating within Ruto's administration, speak in unison and work together towards one common goal.
However, the approach was questioned in July 2023 after Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha ordered the transfer of Matisi OCS John Thuo.
"We don't require Interior CS (Kithure) Kindiki to be here so that an OCS can be transferred. I am in Ruto's government and I stand here as his representative," she stated at the time.
