Vioja Mahakamani is an entertainment program which runs on KBC on Wednesdays at 7:45Pm (prime time),when every viewer is still stuck to their screens.It focuses on interpreting the Kenyan civil and criminal law system. Vioja has been on air for the last three decades. The actors use different accents of well known vernaculars to maintain the comical grip. . It happening in a courtroom, every practice of a courtroom is clearly adhered to. There is a magistrate; there are secretaries and a clerk.
This is a kiswahili comedy set in a court whereby the lawbreakers are ignorant of the law and are put on their defense as justice has to be served.
As the name suggests, this program feature recurring characters placed in humorous situations for example Olexanda, Makokha, Tobias Lijodi, Ondiek Nyuka-Kwota and the magistrate. The characters perfectly fit into their shoes and this would be because they are veterans in the industry.
The Vioja Mahakamani programme is related to real-life situations and the judgements to the accused are also based on “Kenya Legal Law,". Vioja Mahakamani was introduced to educate the public on Kenya’s laws on various issues. The laws quoted in the programme are real and are applied in our law courts.
The target audience for this programme is purely the middle class living in urban areas and rural areas too.
The programme according to me is stereotypical, in that Olexanda is a Maasai who is so ignorant and would not mind grazing his animals in city centre. Ondiek is a Luo who has self pride and must tell the court that he has three wives one in Kileleshwa, another one in Karen and so on. This tells us how the Kenyan people view others stereotypically.
The camera angles used are the basic ones Close ups, mid shots and long shots because of the setting in the courtroom.
The producer of the programme has maintained his way of producing because basically nothing has changed since time immemorial.
Mary
Interesting. I am interested in how a typical programme runs especially in terms of whether it runs away from truths about the law and how it works in court, with such things as the absence of a defense lawyer in Vioja Mahakamani. What is your view, does the programme not misrepresent the law and court system?
ReplyDeleteThere are two sides to the issue you have raised, The programme is both a representation and a misrepresentation of the law and the court system. First, Vioja Mahakamani is a typical television court dramedy where there is never a defense lawyer. The absence of the defense lawyer makes the programme unique in its own way. During a court session the only present people to defend themselves are the accused the defendant and the witnesses. The absence of the defense lawyers in the court reduces the complications of the cases. The judge/magistrate makes a ruling according to how the two present themselves. On the flipside, Vioja Mahakamani misrepresents the law and the court system because the law allows a person to have a lawyer to represent them in court and that is what is called court formality. Vioja mahakamani avoids having the defense lawyers in court because most of the wrong culprits end up in jail not because they are guilty of the offenses but because a defense lawyer who is an expert in law defended them using the same law.
ReplyDeleteVioja Mahakamani therefore always gets the right culprit behind bars as compared to the formal court where the person who justifies themselves most is freed and he other ends up behind bars.
Mary
the formality broght in by the presence of lawyers eliminates the uniqueness of Vioja. They will have to use good english and law language which will make the programme look like any other.absence of lawyers could be a misrepresentation therefore if you went forma but for the case of Vioja Mahakamani it is allowed to make it interesting for its viewers.
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