Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education – Prof George Magoha,
Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs represented here by Director, Youth Affairs – Susan Njau
Principal Secretary, State Department Post Training and Skills Development – Alfred Cheruiyot
Chief Commercial Director, Ipsos, Sub Saharan Africa – David Somers
Aggrey Oriwo—Managing Director, Ipsos Kenya
Director, Secondary Schools, Ministry of Education – Paul Kibet
Invited guests
Teachers
Students
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Morning,
On my own behalf, and that of the Kenya Film Classification Board, let me take this opportunity to welcome you all to Nairobi Cinema and to the 2019 Research Clubs of Africa Competition. Indeed, it is a distinct honour to have you, CS Magoha as our Chief Guest at this competition and to host this prestigious event at this facility.
We acquired this facility less than a year ago as part of the Board’s Sinema Mashinani programme whose key objective is to identify and nurture talents among the youth with the aim of creating jobs and stimulating wealth in the creative economy in line with the Big 4 Presidential Agenda.
We are delighted to partner with Research Clubs of Africa in hosting this 11th Annual National Competition whose theme is premised on “Moral Values”. This theme speaks very closely to our role and mandate of ensuring that film and broadcast content conforms to Kenya’s culture, moral values and national aspirations. Further, this program is aligned with our clean content campaign dubbed “You are What You Consume” that seeks to empower youth to consume media content in a responsible and intelligent manner.
The collaboration with RCA is part of our wider partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE) through the Kenya National Drama and Film Festival (KNDFF) 2019 edition that was themed: “Promoting Moral Values among the Youth through Drama and Film” where KFCB was the Title Sponsor. This partnership is aimed at inculcating moral values among the youth through drama and film whilst identifying and nurturing talent in the creative industry. This year’s finals that took place at Kibabii University saw the Board reach out to at least 25,000 students and teachers in over 1,200 schools with clean content and messages under the banner “Clean is Cool”. The winning schools in the KFCB Film categories are set to be awarded at a Red Carpet event scheduled for 13th July 2019 at the University of Nairobi.
The partnership between KFCB and RCA has enabled the Board to become an important platform for the Board to connect with the most important segment of our society – the youth, in ways that add value and enable them to own the conversations on the issues affecting them.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Research is instrumental in gaining competencies such as analysis, integrity, time management, commitment among others. The empirical data emanating from research is critical in informing decisions, formulating policies, gauging needs and proposing solutions. Through activities like the RCA competition, our youth are encouraged to harness their debating skills and empowered to express themselves on critical matters of national development.
It is important to note that this competition is taking place at a time when many youths are battling with challenges such as depression, mental disorders and diverse forms of addictions. By supporting student activities such as the RCA competition, KFCB hopes to provide an opportunity for a healthy debate by the youth on the challenges facing them. It is on the basis of such engagements that will better policy formulation by capturing the voices of the youth. This competition is meant to ensure that we get the youth to own the conversations on national issues and be part of the solutions. By getting the youth to focus on moral issues, we challenge them to speak up and be part of the campaign to restore moral values in Kenya. The RCA competition ensures that the youth can candidly express themselves amongst themselves on critical issues.
We continue to pursue partnerships with other Government agencies and the private sector in initiatives and programs that will help us in delivering our core mandate and are therefore honored to work with the Research Clubs of Africa and the Ministry of Education in this year’s RCA Finals in this regard.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the government for the invaluable support towards the Board and programs related to youth development.
My appreciation to all the sponsors of this event and more so to Ipsos-Kenya for considering our Board as a partner of choice.
Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the winners and wish all the participants of this year’s competition the best of luck.
Once again, we warmly welcome you to Nairobi Cinema and look forward to great and insightful engagement.
Thank you and God bless you!
Dr. Ezekiel Mutua, MBS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Its time 