‘Gospel artists have frustrated me!’ MCSK boss Ezekiel Mutua laments after one year in office

The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) CEO Ezekiel Mutua has gone bare knuckles on the Kenyan Gospel music fraternity claiming the players have caused him untold frustration and anguish.

The outspoken MSCK honcho took to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon to berate Kenyan Gospel stars saying that, since he joined the music body, his efforts to “revive the industry” had been greatly undermined by the lot.

"Since I joined MCSK a year ago, the people who have caused me the most pain and frustrated my efforts to revive the music industry are the so called gospel artists," he wrote.

Mutua went on to say that he now understands comedian Eric Omondi's tough stance on the Kenyan Gospel music industry having experienced the ugly side of it himself.

"I think Eric Omondi was right. Something is wrong. We have lots of performers and few real Gospel artists. Sad," he lamented.

While he did not further elaborate his beef with Kenya's Gospel stars, Mutua appeared to endorse a popular notion about the sincerity of most of the players in the Gospel fraternity.

Early this year, Eric Omondi published a viral rant about the state of Kenyan Gospel music while calling out current and former artistes by name.

"Where is Daddy Owen, Jimmy Gait, Mercy Masika, Alice Kamande, Gloria Muliro, Eunice Njeri, Bahati? The Gospel music industry was the identity of Kenyan music and they have all fallen. The Gospel music industry has failed us,” he said.

Ezekiel Mutua is no stranger to the hidden drama surrounding Kenya's creative industry.

During his tenure at the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB), he regularly locked hones with creatives over his tough moral stances, effectively earning himself the moniker "Deputy Jesus" from Kenyans on Twitter (KoT).

Mutua was appointed the MCSK boss on March 25, 2022 following what the agency termed as “rigorous competitive interviews.”