Youth in the Creative Industry in Narok County, want the County government to put policies in place that will ensure their creativity is recognized and supported locally.
The young people, who spoke during a stakeholders’ engagement on the draft Creative Economy Policy and the Creative Industries Bill, 2023, alleged they are not given any space to express themselves during public events or other functions that require their creativity.
Led by the Maa Creative Network Forum Chairman, Tom Kiminta, the youths observed that many artists invited to entertain guests during major functions including national holidays are from outside counties.
Kiminta said a policy should be put in place, to ensure every County Government, non-governmental organizations and investors are forced to hire local artist, to entertain guests or perform any other key job they can do
“We the local artists are equally able, but we are astonished that many investors or government officials, will transport people from other counties, to come and do what we can do. This demotivates us and kills our morale in exploiting our talents,” he lamented.
The forum’s Secretary Ms. Sheilla Yenko said the young people in Narok County are highly talented in various creative fields like: dancers, models, Youtube content creators, filmmakers, artists, and DJs, among others.
She called on the county government to recognize their talents and put a policy in place that will help the young people earn money from their talents.
Sheilla condemned cyber booing, saying it has been on the rise in the recent past, and called on young people to respect and support the talent of other young people.
“Our creative work is what puts food on the table. We ask the youth and other people in the county to respect everyone’s job as everybody has a unique talent,” she said.
Another youth, Hanington Odhiambo, asked County governments to nurture local talents to reach international standards, expressing confidence that the youth had rich talents which are not properly utilized.
The forum was led by the Head of Legal affairs in the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports, Ms. Damaris Ogama, who informed Participants that they were moving around the country, seeking views on how to improve the draft on Creative Economy Policy Bill, 2023.
She said their main target were the young people who play a big role in the promotion of the creative content industry.
The legal officer acknowledged that the Maa youth had expressed a concern of being left out in major events in favour of artists from other counties.
By Ann Salaton
