Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has sought to ease concerns over new county charges for filming, saying the fees are aimed at large commercial productions rather than ordinary social media creators.
The clarification follows growing concern among filmmakers, influencers and digital creators after the Nairobi City County Finance Act, 2026 introduced a range of charges covering filming and digital entertainment.
Sakaja Says Ordinary Creators Are Not the Target
Under the new fee schedule, local commercial filming attracts a charge of Ksh8,000 per session. External commercial productions face a Ksh50,000 fee, while music-video shoots are charged Ksh10,000. Religious and private filming is listed at Ksh8,000.
The law also sets an annual fee of Ksh40,000 for content creation studios. Local streaming platforms face a Ksh100,000 annual charge, while digital content platforms are charged Ksh80,000. Influencers holding monetized events face a Ksh10,000 fee per event.
But Sakaja said the measures should not be interpreted as a tax on everyday content creation.
“These charges were never intended to target ordinary content creators, influencers or young people creating digital content,” he said.
The governor said the county was instead seeking to regulate professional productions that make heavy use of public facilities and spaces.
“There is a clear difference between a content creator shooting a video for social media and a large film production arriving with a crew, equipment, vehicles and requiring the temporary closure or controlled use of a road. That is who we are targeting,” he said.
New Fees Cover More Than Film Productions
The distinction is important for creators who work alone or in small teams and may have feared that routine filming for platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube would attract the new charges.
Sakaja said Nairobi’s creative sector remained important to the city’s economy and provided livelihoods for many young people. He also described the industry as a way of promoting the capital to audiences in Kenya and abroad.
The Finance Act, however, extends beyond filming. Television stations are required to pay Ksh200,000 annually, while radio stations face a Ksh150,000 charge. Cinemas and theaters are charged Ksh100,000 annually per screen, while online entertainment events attract a Ksh15,000 fee.
The county says the charges are part of a wider framework for commercial entertainment and productions that require significant use of county infrastructure.
Questions Remain Over How the Rules Will Be Applied
For content creators, the key question now is how the county will distinguish ordinary social media work from commercial productions in practice.
Sakaja’s comments suggest that small-scale creators are not the primary target, but the implementation of the new fee regime will determine how that distinction is applied on the ground.
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