Ezekiel Mutua, the CEO of the Kenya Film Classification Board, has refuted allegations making rounds on social media that he has been fired by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru.

“My attention has been drawn to reports on social media to the effect that I have been fired as CEO of KFCB. PLEASE IGNORE such malicious rumours. I am not aware of such developments and there can be no grain of truth in them as there’s no vacancy in the office of the CEO KFCB,” Ezekiel Mutua said in a tweet.

Ezekiel Mutua has often been at loggerheads with artists over what he terms as “explicit” content and has through his office banned several films and songs. Artists have often accused him of stifling creativity and imposing his religious morals on the industry.

One of the major films that KFCB banned is the LGBT film “Rafiki”, which became Kenya’s first film to premier at the prestigious Cannes Festival.

His hard stand against any content he considers “immoral” has earned him the nickname “Deputy Jesus”, coined by Kenyans on Twitter (KOT).

Mutua’s recent spat has been with comedian Eric Omondi, after the KFCB boss called him broke, saying artists are broke and are only doing showbiz to fool people that they are doing well when they are not.

Mutua, who was peaking in an audio clip that went viral on social media, was trashing Omondi’s gesture of contributing Sh200,000 to Bahati during his album launch, following the cancellation of a deal between the singer and KFCB.

“Hakuna pesa alitoa. Omondi ni maskini…hizo ni sarakasi za kujionesha. Wanafanya hizo sarakasi waoneshe wanakejeli serikali lakini hakuna pesa ya kweli. (He never gave out any money. Omondi is a begger that was just showbiz).

Mutua’s remarks were not taken well by artists, who took to social media to protest the utterances.

Eric Omondi vowed to lobby for his removal as the KFCB CEO over the utterances, which according to him was a betrayal of the very same office that is supposed to be supporting the Creative industry.

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