Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has nominated celebrated music producer Clement Rapudo Sijenyi, popularly known as Clemo, to serve as the county's Arts, Culture and Tourism chief officer.
Governor Sakaja's memo to the City Hall Assembly stated that Clemo ventured into the entertainment scene while he was a first-year student at Egerton University pursuing a degree in food science.
“This show of confidence in me by governor Sakaja is monumental and it shall deliver the promise,” Clemo says.
“Sakaja is one man who has a connection with the ground; is an idealist; and is not a leader who needs introductory comments on what ought be done for the docket he has entrusted me with.”
“We will hit the ground running if approved by the County Assembly and work with all stakeholders to deliver transformational leadership under the stewardship of Governor Sakaja and his entire team,” he says.
Clemo will know his fate on December 22 when the Nairobi County Assembly will vote on the list of nominees.
The artiste hit national airwaves with the Calif Records trademark where he produced then trending artistes like Jua Cali, Flexx, Nonini, Pilipili, Lady S, Jimwat and Mejja.
Clemo, the founder the Ngomma VAS which deals in promoting artistes and their music on e-platform, was widely known for the ‘Beat ya Clemo’ concept that dominated airwaves in the early 2000s.
He touts himself as a bottom-up musical brand, having started his career in a makeshift studio in his parents’ house.
Brought up in California Estate in Nairobi’s Eastlands area, Clemo says his drive in the music industry was not for personal material gain “but was like a hobby...an obsession that later became a nagging desire to be part of that musical beat growth among my peers and the industry.”
He says that while mainstream media was the only platform for publicity when he was starting his career, “things have changed a great deal where social media platforms are the epicentre of interactions with the market.”
