Officer respectfully removes Raila's hat after national anthem blunder [Video]

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was politely reminded about the importance of Kenya's national anthem during a meeting with leader from the Maasai community on Monday, September 2021.

According to footage from the event, the proceedings started with singing the national anthem which everyone stood for.

However, after Odinga rose to his feet, one of his body guards from the disciplined forces noticed that his boss still had his cowboy hat on even after the music started playing

He slowly bent over and remove the unofficial hat from the head of the ODM leader who turn his head back but understood the mistake he had made.

"Any person who shows disrespect, in speech, manner or writing, to or with reference to the National Anthem, or to any specified emblem, specified likeness or specified name, or any representation thereof, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment," the National Flag, Emblems and Names Act says.

However, in order to prosecute anyone of an offence of this nature, it must be sanctioned by the Attorney General.

Who owns Kenya's National Anthem?

In 2019, concerns were raised over ownership of the anthem after a Kenyan vlogger revealed that he had received a copyright strike on YouTube for uploading a video with Kenya's national anthem.

The copyright claim was attributed to De Wofle Music Company based in UK, triggering backlash from Kenyans on Twitter.

However, the company's managment claified that YouTube's music identification system had matched the two audio sampled and registered it as infringement.

“We do not own, or claim to own, the copyright to the Kenyan National Anthem, most National anthems are non copyright and are in the public domain, due either to their age, or by legislation making national symbols copyright-free.

“We have a sound recording of this work but we do not claim any other ownership and have never copyrighted ownership of the composition as this in the public domain,” De Wolf explained to Nairobi News.

According to the The National Flag, Emblems and Names (Amendment) Bill, 2020 passed by the Senate in 2021, Copyright in the National Anthem, other national symbols and any works or music relating to the National Anthem or national symbols and eligible for copyright shall vest in the Government.