Lingala maestro Koffi Olomide gets three months in prison

Congolese Musician Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba, aka Koffi Olomide performing during the Koroga festival at the Arboretum Nairobi Kenya on 13th March 2016. PHOTO| CHARLES KAMAU 

By AMOS NGAIRA and HILARY KIMUYU

In Summary

• Fondly referred to by his fans as Grand Mopao Mokonzi, Koffi was deported from Kenya on Saturday after his dancer, Ms Pamela Eyenga Bengongo, flatly denied the attack caught on video, which went viral on social media.
• “She must be feeling traumatised now and perhaps a change of scene for her will do her some good,” said the producer, who asked not to be named for fear that his desire to help might be misconstrued as an attempt to profit from the Koffi debacle.

For a 60-year-old, Congolese bad boy and Lingala star Koffi Olomide, sure can kick.

Tuesday, the disgraced singer was jailed for three months, commuted down from 18 months on President Joseph Kabila’s intervention, without the option of a fine. This completed his freefall, five days after he executed a Kung Fu-like kick on one of his dancers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.

Koffi has kicked his way into Makala Prison in Kinshasa, where he is confined after a speedy trial for assault.

Fondly referred to by his fans as Grand Mopao Mokonzi, Koffi was deported from Kenya on Saturday after his dancer, Ms Pamela Eyenga Bengongo, flatly denied the attack caught on video, which went viral on social media.

Police arrived at his residence in Kinshasa yesterday early in the morning with orders to arrest him in a continuation of perhaps the worst run in Koffi’s fortunes, a painful price to pay for his moment of madness in Nairobi.

Reports from Kinshasa said that a campaign to have him arrested was orchestrated by Congressman Zakarie Bababaswe, who had filed a petition on behalf of the Congolese public to have him punished for assault.

Mr Bababaswe had in a televised press conference wondered why Koffi was “still walking scot free and yet there was video evidence that he assaulted his dancer in Kenya”.   Ironically, the congressman, who is also a musician, was good friends with Koffi until they fell out after Mr Bababaswe accused Koffi and songster Cindy Le Coeur, Koffi’s lead singer, of belittling him in their songs.  

Koffi’s arrest, which was ordered by DRC Attorney-General Fred Ruhindi, was received with jubilation by locals and foreigners, who felt justice must be done to protect women’s rights.

Since the kick video went viral, Koffi has suffered a huge blow to a career the otherwise mercurial singer, composer and band leader has diligently nurtured for several decades.

The disgraced Koffi faced a rough time, with TV stations doing rolling interviews with the public in which his conduct was roundly condemned. When he arrived at Ndjili Airport in Kinshasa on Saturday afternoon accompanied by three dancers, he was welcomed with jeers.

He had been bundled onto a Kenya Airways plane after spending a night in police cells at the JKIA, leaving behind his promoter Jules Nsana counting losses and a backlash from fans.

He was scheduled to perform at the Bomas of Kenya, where he was set to introduce his latest provocative dance style, kalembe lembe. From Nairobi, Koffi had been expected to fly to Lusaka for shows, which have since been cancelled.

US performance

Meanwhile, there could be some light at the end of the tunnel for the dancer, Ms Eyenga, who was at the end of what is now being jocularly referred to as the “Koffi Kick”.  A US-based producer and manager is working on the possibility of inviting her to perform in the proverbial land of opportunity. 

“She must be feeling traumatised now and perhaps a change of scene for her will do her some good,” said the producer, who asked not to be named for fear that his desire to help might be misconstrued as an attempt to profit from the Koffi debacle.

In the past 20 years, Koffi has had several brushes with the law, with cases ranging from assault, suspected rape, indecent dancing styles to provocative lyrics.

His hit song, Loi (law) was temporarily banned for lyrics that were seen as depicting him as “immune” to government bullets. In the mid 1990s, also while in Nairobi, he tore the passport of one his dancers, accusing him of maligning him.

In 1998, he damaged the passport of promising singer Suzuki Luzubu, who was in his Quartier Latin International Band’s entourage for concerts also in Nairobi. And in 2008, he was charged with assaulting a photojournalist in Paris.

Things got even worse for him in 2012, when, apart from being charged with assaulting his music producer in a payment row, he was also charged with assaulting a journalist in Zambia.

Paris has not also been a lucky destination for Koffi, as he has a pending case after jumping bail over a charge of attempted rape of three of his dancers.

Back in Kinshasa, Koffi’s apology last Sunday on national Congolese broadcaster RTNC to women across Africa, Europe and America for the Kenyan incident seems not to have thawed the ice with the authorities.

During the interview, a visibly subdued Olomide — contrary to the bravado after the airport attack and a futile attempt to cover up what actually happened with his tall tale of allegedly trying to protect his band members from pickpockets — spoke with a surprisingly conciliatory tone.

Koffi was also on another TV station, apologising to his fans in various languages from Lingala and French to English. A number of Congolese  nationals  living in Europe, America and  Canada have since posted clips on social media, condemning the cruelty by the  music star.

His fellow musicians in Kinshasa were dismayed by the incident. Speaking to the Nation by telephone from Kinshasa yesterday, Pascal Onema, of the Congolese Music Union officials, said they had convened an emergency meeting to discuss Koffi’s arrest and deportation.