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Government issues fresh directive after Diamond protested over song ban
‘Waka Waka’ featuring Rick Ross and ‘Hallelujah’ featuring Morgan Heritage were among the banned songs.
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The songs in question were ‘Waka Waka’ featuring Rick Ross and ‘Hallelujah’ which were banned because they didn’t have the ‘required moral threshold for public consumption’.
During an interview with Times FM after the release of his album Diamond protested the ban and came for the assistant Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Juliana Shonza who is behind the ban. He compared the Tanzanian Government to a man who doesn’t provide for his wife and yet makes demands.
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“My issue is not the song ban, if you ban my songs it doesn’t really affect me as I will perform the song outside the country and if you don’t want me in this country, I can leave and live elsewhere. So it’s best we sit down and talk, we give each other directions but we should not antagonize each other. No, we should help the arts grow. I am an expert when it comes to Bongo Fleva Music and I am not afraid to end up in jail because of my music. My parents are the reason I am here so when you are dealing with my music do what is right and don’t abuse your power.” Diamond said.
A day after Diamond aired his grievances, Juliana Shonza has responded to Diamond’s protests. She has issued a directive that if Diamond wants his grievances addressed he should lodge his complaints in a letter addressed to the government.
Speaking to Mwananchi Digital Shonza said “The government does not respond to things written on social media, we have a system. Anyone who has a complaint should bring it to our office or write a letter. That is the procedure. So I cannot respond to Diamond, I will ignore him as he has not followed the procedure. The government cannot waste its time arguing with one person, I cannot answer someone who has spoken on radio, I will only address the issue if he brings it to my office.”
Following Shonza’s directive Diamond has taken to Twitter to ask why the government wants him to follow procedure and yet they did not do the same when banning his and other artistes’ songs.
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