Veteran actor and brand influencer Peter Maina, popularly known as Mzee Edmund Mwamba, from his role in one of Kenya’s most beloved and long-running family TV drama show, ‘Mother-in-Law’ has expressed his disgruntled take on being creative in the country’s crippling entertainment industry.
According to the household name, who was inspired by the legendary late Mzee Ojwang to join the acting space, “Our salaries are not constant, we lack pay slips, and without those, you can’t even get a bank loan,”
The Kalasha award-winning actor, who’s graced screens every Sunday evening for the last 14 years, further added, “We don’t have contracts like actors in other countries.”As he faulted the Kenyan market for constantly criticizing what movie creatives put out despite them not understanding the woes they go through.
Maina, aged 68, also lamented over the lack of love and support from the local audience, arguing Kenyans are always quick to consume everything else minus their own content yet they still somehow expect creative work to magically reach the pinnacle of Hollywood overnight. According to the season actor, even musicians (who also constantly complain about the market, consumption, and returns) ironically earn better than those in the film industry.
“People will watch Nigerian movies here in Kenya, but our productions face so many challenges despite being just as good. Musicians in Kenya earn more than us actors; we only have a name, but no wealth to show for it,”Maina candidly notes. Adding, “We are selling Kenya to the outside world, so the government should reduce the punitive taxes imposed on the film industry,”
Drawing an example of the late Mzee Ojwang from shows such as Vitimbi, who was a leading actor, beloved in all corners of the nation as he took to the screens to entertain his audience but died poor despite all the work he’d put into his craft and having had the opportunity to perform for years, even in front of presidents.
With that he’s urging his fans to “Give me my flowers when I can see and smell them. Don’t wait for me to be inside a coffin then bring me flowers because I won’t see them,”
To him, acting is his calling as he fell in love with the craft in the early 1960’s when he was just a little boy in Primary school. Even before his big break in Mother-in-Law, he had had the pleasure of performing plays for some notable key figures such as Kenya’s third president, the late president Mwai Kibaki who was an area MP at the time.
“My father would always complain that I spend more time being a comedian in school instead of taking my studies seriously,” the 68-year-old recalled.
His career took off in the 1980’s with profound inspiration from the late Mzee Ojwang, whom he notes was his idol. And till date, he still recalls when he had the honour of curtain raising for the late actor.
Maina however, couldn’t fully focus on his passion as he needed a job that provided financial security for him and his family as he was just starting out in the industry. That’s until 2008 when his big break finally came, by sheer luck, and he landed his role in the Citizen TV family drama that ran for years.
by HANNIE PETRA
