Homeboyz: How derogatory remarks on violence survivor attracted public, corporate wrath

The last few days have seen a lot of outrage on social media regarding three former Homeboyz Radio presenters and comments they made on a woman, Eunice Wangari Wakimbi. The 20-year-old was thrown off the 12th floor of a Nairobi building last year, by a man she reportedly met on Facebook. This caused her serious pelvic injuries, forcing her to spend two months at Kenyatta National Hospital. 

Consequent to remarks of the former ‘Lift Off’ breakfast show presenters, Shaffie Weru, Joseph Munoru alias DJ Joe Mfalme, and Neville Musya, EABL, a member of the UN Global Compact, on March 27 paused its advertisements on all programmes related to the trio.

Hours later, Homeboyz Radio, which is controlled by Radio Africa Group (RAG), sacked the trio. It had earlier suspended them as investigations went on. During the suspension, the three alongside other Homeboyz Radio team were to undergo mandatory gender sensitisation training.

“The training shall be conducted by our legal team and a credible institution that is a key advocate for women’s rights and their protection from discrimination, bias and abuse,” Homeboyz Radio General Manager Ms Somoina Kimojino said in the March 26, statement.

EABL’s pre-requisites for resuming its advertising with the media house, however, seems to have kicked the Homeboyz Radio off balance, pushing it to terminate the services of the co-presenters. The beverage firm was outright in its demands.

Robust consequence

“As a pre-condition to revert to our advertising partnership, we have asked RAG to conduct due diligence in the selection of presenters and embed a robust consequence management plan on those that do not abide to the code of conduct,” EABL stated in its March 27, statement.

EABL Group Corporate Relations Director Mr Eric Kiniti, told nation.africa on Monday that they were prompted to act because the presenters defied the firm’s values on gender diversity.

“We are a responsible corporate that upholds and champions gender diversity and we discourage gender insensitive sentiment, particularly negative gender portrayal in our marketing campaigns,” he added.

“Although we do not advertise our products on the morning show in question, personalities who made these offensive statements are connected to our advertising work in other platforms, as outlined in the programming code and guidelines,” he noted.

Ms Kimojino was yet to respond to our email queries, neither was she reachable on the office line.

As a member of the UN Global Compact, EABL is bound to support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, which include elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

Homeboyz Radio was further penalised by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) who fined them Sh1 million and imposed a six-month suspension of their breakfast show until it complies with all statutory and regulatory requirements.

It also directed the station to publish a public apology in two newspapers with nationwide circulation and air the same on the station during prime time for five days beginning March 28.

Glorified sexual violence against women

Further, the station is to ensure its staff are trained on gender issues, and the training has to be certified by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC).

In pronouncing the penalties on March 28, CA Acting Director General Ms Mercy Wanjau said the authority found the station to have exposed the GBV victim to ridicule, discussed sexual matters in an offensive manner and glorified sexual violence against women.

A follow-up on the ideology behind the harsh punitive measures established that CA had five months ago warned Homeboyz Radio over its irresponsible programming.

 “Homeboyz Radio failed to provide responsible and responsive programming, as the content depicted was of a demeaning nature,” CA responded on email.

“Given this was a repeat violation following another violation in October 2020, which they confirmed they had put in place appropriate corrective measures to prevent recurrence, they were fined a penalty in accordance with Section 83A of Kenya Information and Communication Act (KICA),” it added.

The discussion related to an ongoing court case involving Ms Eunice Wangari who has accused Mr Moses Njoroge of attacking her causing her serious pelvic injuries.

On March 24, the HomeBoyz trio delved into Ms Wangari’s matter during their breakfast show.

Victim blaming

“Do you think Kenyan chiles (slang for girls) are too available? Are they too loose, too willing, too desperate and that’s why they get themselves caught up in such situations?” Mr Weru had asked.

Outrage spread on social media with people accusing the hosts of victim blaming, prompting RAG management, its partners and broadcasting regulator to act.

Mr Weru, however, defended himself against accusations.

“We can protect women by having more candid and objective discussions about these issues. You can’t shut everyone who doesn’t agree with you down and claim some gender superiority on them,” he told nation.africa on March 30.

“If today as Shaffie, I decide to go out late in the night and walk hoping everyone would be nice, I should be blamed if I am attacked...I shouldn’t run to my gender for shield,” he added.

He added: “Meting economic violence (and) denying me my freedom to express myself openly and honestly is even worse form of violence on my person just because I am a man who has criticised a woman who, I believe, wasn’t careful enough.”

Now, Mr Weru is demanding for Sh21,157,500 compensation for unlawful dismissal. Through MMA Advocates, he says RAG breached his right to be heard before firing him.

For 18 years, he had worked at RAG holding different positions. At the time of his dismissal, he was Homeboyz Radio’s Programs Controller.

Through MMA Advocates, Mr Weru says RAG breached his right to be heard before making a decision to terminate his employment. Mr Weru says the management had requested him to stand in for one of the breakfast show’s presenter who was indisposed, taking cognizant of his past experience as a radio presenter.

He has threatened to sue RAG should it fail to compensate him by April 6, 2021.

On March 30, National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) released a statement cautioning against normalising sexual violence.

“The commission cautions against the mainstreaming of the rape culture that is slowly gaining currency in which sexual violence is being normalised and excused in the media and popular culture,” it said.

Women’s rights and safety

Rape culture, it said, is being promoted through use of misogynistic language, objectification of women’s bodies and glamorisation of sexual violence, hence creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety. 

In Kenya, one in four women aged 15 and above experience physical violence each year, indicates data from NGEC.

It is too costly to heal GBV wounds or seek justice. Annually, it takes Sh24,797 for each survivor and family, NGEC estimates. Comparatively, the minimum monthly income for a Kenyan is Sh13,572.

This implies, a family spending Sh2,066 each month from the Sh13,572 to deal with a GBV related issue, money that could otherwise be saved for retirement or invested.

Globally, UN Women is running a Generation Equality campaign in which the young and old regardless of their gender, are called upon to engage in activities that seek to end discrimination against women and girls.

Association of Women Media in Kenya (Amwik), Executive Director Marceline Nyambala said discussions on the presenters’ remarks show layered gender discrimination in the society. It could take multi-sectoral strategies to uproot all forms of discrimination against women and girls, she said.

“The whole conversation brings out issues about our values, norms and ethics that we need to address. I see people trolling women leaders triple their age and that tells a lot about how women are perceived,” she said.

Media houses, nevertheless, ought to be proactive in engendering their reporting and engagement with the public, she said.