MT Kenya the Weeping Giant

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PIRACY AND BLACK MARKET IN KAJIADO

Local musicians and film actors face a major blow due to piracy. Their hard work of art that include

composing, recording and acting, land in wrong hands of few individuals who easily benefit after

purchasing a DVD, a small screen and some loud speakers to draw the attention of customers who

gullibly buy the pirated disks due to their cheap prices.

The plagiarism has however taken root in most of Rongai, Kiserian and Ngong among other parts of

Kajiado town. In almost of every street of Kajiado towns, there is dazzling music to entice passersby and

residents. Local hitting songs are used as bait accompanied by cheap prices. The vendors shamelessly

burn the songs and movies to blank CDs using hacked software. The software enables them to produce

thousands of copies and sell them in large volumes.

The most notorious places include Kware in Rongai, Kiserian market and Ngong market. They are located

in cheap stalls if and verandas. Others are located along the roads in order to reach massive customers.

Perhaps the question that we should ask ourselves is, if everyone can easily access them, what does

the county council of ole Kajiado do to curb them? The revenue collectors together with the police

department should be keen of such issues. They may seem minor but if caught by the music copyright

of Kenya, heavy fines are incurred. If one is caught possessing pirated art or pirating, the fines are up to

fifty thousand shillings or face imprisonment of two years. In addition, one is banned from holding any

license and then one is regulated from transacting any art business.

Other than pirated goods, black-market goods are booming in Kajiado. The goods include; fake mobile

phones and electronic equipments. The gadgets are an imitation of pure brand of products. Recently,

there has been a massive complain about fake memory cards and fake phones. The problem is that

after break up the vendors are not liable for the losses since no warrant is given to those goods. Instead,

customers are restrained by the cash receipts that state ` goods once sold cannot be replaced ‘. They do

not even bare the mark of quality known as Kenya Bureau of Standard (KEBS). Goods without mark of

quality subjects citizens to bear the burden of any fault that they might be having.

The question that most people ask is who licenses such business? The simple answer is that no one

licenses such people but there is a back door way of letting them transact the inflicting business. The

revenue collectors armed with yellow coats perform the corrupt activity at the evening hours, four to

six. They charge as little as ten shillings depending on how often you pay them. Due to heavy `work log’,

some hawkers evade tax. If the county government of ole Kajiado is not careful, millions of shillings will

be lost in few individual’s pockets. On 27^th February 2014, the county council of ole kajiado will demolish all structures along the roads but the question at hand is whether this will end the piracy an black market?

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