On July 22 2016, Koffi Olomide was deported from Kenya where he had gone for a series of concerts. The reason for his deportation is that he was seen on a cell phone camera viciously attacking one of his dancers (Pamela) with two vicious kicks which happily did not land on target. It is not the first time Koffi has assaulted one of his dancers.

Koffi has in the past said that growing up, Tabu Ley was his favourite musician and inspiration. Well Koffi should have listened to Tabu Ley. Back in the early 1980s Tabu Ley sung a song about domestic violence.The title of the song was : Jalousie mal placee.  In the song, Tabu Ley encouraged women who face domestic violence at the hands of their husbands to leave their marital home and go to their homes.

Song Video

The refrain of the song which prominently features the voice of Kuleta Pom Pom is sung from the perspective of a woman who has experienced domestic violence.

Tika ngai nakende ozali kobeta ngai
Yo olakaki baboti ba ngai okoki kobeta ngai te
Kobeta mwasi ezalaki likambo ya tango ya ba mama
Na tango na biso tokomi na tango ta commission feminine
Oh oh ohh oh
Yee yee yee

Which roughly translates to:
Leave me alone I am leaving because you have assaulted me
You told my parents that you were incapable of assaulting me
Beating women is something that used to happen during previous generations
Today we are in the era of women’s rights.

Tabu Ley sung this song 35 years ago. Here we are in 2016 and Koffi is still engaged in violence against women.
 

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