Homeboyz Radio slapped with Ksh.1M fine, breakfast show suspended for 6 months

The Communications Authority of Kenya has now slapped Homeboyz Radio with a Ksh.1 million fine and suspended its breakfast show for six months over derogatory comments against women made by presenters Shaffie Weru, Neville, and DJ Joe Mfalme.

CA Director General Mercy Wanjau, in a press address on Sunday, said the comments made during the breakfast show of March 25, 2021 were in violation of the provisions of the law and the Programming Code in respect to the requirement for broadcasters to air decent and family-oriented programming during the watershed period.

The State agency noted that the station’s presenters discussed sexual matters in an explicit and offensive manner and glorified sexual violence against women.

According to the State agency, the show presenters “exposed a victim of Gender Based Violence to ridicule and implied that it was the victim’s fault that she was targeted and assaulted.”

Besides the Ksh.1 million penalty,  a six-month suspension was imposed on the said breakfast show “until the station demonstrates compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements.”

The authority also directed that the staff of the station undergo training and sensitization on gender issues certified by the National Gender and Equality Commission and evidence of compliance, as well as a training on the Programming Code.

The station is further required to publish a public apology in two newspapers with nationwide circulation and air the same apology on the station during prime time starting Sunday for the next five days.

Homeboyz is required to review its editorial policy to align it with requirements of the law on gender, and file it with the Authority, and to ensure that its presenters are accredited by the Media Council of Kenya.

“The Authority upholds the principle of gender inclusivity and respect for diversity. Broadcasters are urged to exercise great responsibility when undertaking their work and to avoid gender stereotyping, fostering misogyny and perpetration of negative narratives against women and men,” said Ms. Wanjau.

“The programming code pronounces itself in great detail in acknowledgement of the powerful role of broadcasting in disseminating information, shaping opinion and as a platform for celebrating our diversity as a people and as a country.”

Homeboyz Radio, through its parent company Radio Africa, on Saturday fired its breakfast show – The Lift Off – presenters Shaffie Weru, Neville, and DJ Joe Mfalme.

The trio was let go following comments they made on the station on Thursday morning about Eunice Wangari, 20, who was reportedly thrown from the 12th floor of a building by a man after refusing his sexual advances.