It was a time for protests, picking up the camera, taking a few
shots, brief interviews then rejoining the pack to shout anti-Media Bill
chants. Kenyan journalists, media practitioners, owners and civil society
activists took to the streets of Nairobi on 3rd December
to voice their dissatisfaction with the recent Media Bill passed in Parliament.
The demonstrators assembled outside Nation Centre on Kimathi
Street a few minutes past 10 am. Whistles, and pro-media freedom chants and
placards took charge of the busy streets as the procession made its way through
Kenyatta Avenue and Moi Avenue before making a stop on Harambee Avenue where a
signed petition was handed over to government officials at the Office of the
President. A similar copy of the petition was also delivered to the National
Assembly buildings. “The Bill amounts to repression of the media and should
either be completely withdrawn or redrafted afresh,” said Mr. David Ohito, the
Vice Chair of the Editors Guild of Kenya.
The Bill among other proposals placed a fine of KES 20 million
for media houses found guilty of violating the code of conduct while
journalists would be fined KES 2 million. Even after supposed consultations,
the contents of the Information and Communications Bill 2013 are yet to lose
their effect of sending jitters down the spines of members of the Fourth
Estate. The presence of the Media Tribunal and the still hefty fines for
journalists now reduced to KES 500,000 remain among contentious elements of the
Bill.
“I suspect this has been brought about by the desire to take
Kenya back to the days of dictatorship, but those days are gone,” said former
Human Rights Commission of Kenya Chairperson and now Mombasa Senator Hassan
Omar. “No one can succeed in barring the media from doing their work. I am in
utter shock. I thought the Uhuru government would be an improvement from the Kibaki
government but what has been happening in the first days of this government is
something that confounds all of us,” he added.
Among the
demonstrators was photojournalist cum activist Boniface Mwangi, Political
Analyst and Director of ONE, Benji Ndolo and a host of civil rights activists.
“We would rather empower the current Media Council of Kenya than create a new
council that is not free of State control,” added Mr. Ohito. The media
fraternity hopes to reach a reasonable compromise with the National Assembly
when the Bill is brought to the floor of the House.
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