Two jazz artistes, drummer Amani Baya and guitarist Jack Muguna have still not been released after they were arrested by Nema on Sunday night for alleged noise pollution. They were performing at an event hosted at Marquee Sky Bar & Lounge, Westlands.
Amani Baya/ Wire
The latest update is that they appeared before the judge at about 3:45pm on Monday after a whole day wait and were slapped with a Ksh 200,000 bail which could not be processed in the time they had till the end of court business
Their friends have managed to get legal representation from some well wishers and from the venue owner at Marquee Lounge as well, who has been working to get them out too.
Jack Muguna/ Wire
Nairobi Horns Project trumpeter MacKinlay Mutsembi had this to say about the issue, “They were sitting on a band stand when Nema raided our gig for trumped-up noise pollution charges. No music was playing. I’m out because I had just put my horn down. Equipment, my horns, their guitars, sound, was all confiscated. I’m still trying to get them released. It’s so hard making an honest living in this town sometimes…”
Mackinlay added, “As I had said, it’s an utterly baseless charge. Those who came to our gig this evening will attest to the fact that it was a super quiet evening, and when Nema burst in, the band was not playing. There was No Music playing at this time, just the musicians sitting on stage holding their instruments. Nema did not turn up with a decibel meter, and I am sure they have no record of any noise limits exceeded. If there has been a complaint about the establishment on noise levels, I doubt there was any today. But again, it is quickly turning into a business of sorts. These raids on establishments and carting equipment and people away.”
Fans of the jazz acts were angry at the system used to arrest the artistes.
One asked, “The county government imeshindwa kudeal na the mobsters in town, now they arrest musicians. This has got to stop!”