Curiously, will the same MPs seek the media
when they need to appeal to the public for a re-election? Or when they need to
make hasty statements, to explain themselves to the same public they kill
softly over and over again, after being caught pants down or with they hands in
the honey full public kitty?
According to Standard Digital, “the
controversial Bill has removed the Complaints Commission from the Media Council
of Kenya (MCK) and assigned those powers to the Communication Authority of
Kenya (CAK), which is the rebranded body that takes over the functions of
Communications Commission of Kenya.
Under the proposed Multimedia Tribunal, the
best practice model of co-regulation has been dealt a big blow. While issues of
content, ethics and professional standards would be enforced under MCK the
functions of licensing, frequency spectrum and allocation, courier and postal
licences would be performed by CAK.
Strangely, the new Bill does not explain
how postal, courier services and telecommunication personnel would regulate the
media at the tribunal level. In short, what would a telecom expert say or know
about professional journalism practice?
The Multimedia Tribunal is an equivalent of
an appeals court because its decisions are final.
How can it be an appeals court yet there
are no lower cases it has listened to before?
The fines imposed by the tribunal are too
high and unsustainable. It does not matter whether it is a giant media House
like the Nation Media Group, Standard Group, Royal Media Services,
Radio Africa Group, Capital Group or the
State owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
Going by the rate of frequent demand
letters from lawyers sent to media houses it means an average of Sh100 million
each month or within each quota. Going by publicly results of listed companies
it means a recipe for disaster and closure of these media enterprises and job
loses.
The emerging County focused radio stations
will literally shut operations because none can survive a fine of Sh20 million.
Insurance cost for media personnel will go up triple fold. The worst hit will
be correspondents and lower cadre journalists whose remuneration is less than
Sh10,000 a month.
It means they will work for 100 months to
save one million just in case they are fined.
The regulations will mean the media now
loses its watchdog role against corruption and we cannot hold leaders
accountable for their actions.
The right of Kenyans to know how their
taxes are spent, how government will release information for them to access and
freedom of expression will be greatly impeded as enshrined in the Constitution.
It is very easy for the tribunal to ban
media from covering opposition parties on claims that they are spreading
propaganda and hate speech.
That will spell the death of democracy
Kenyans fought for ages.
There are ways of deregistering errant
members of a profession through clear-cut processes.
By pegging local content at 45 per cent and
advertising revenue at the same level we must ask how much investments has the
same Parliament and Government allocated to local film industry to spur the
generation of such content?
The media is going regional and global, why
would we deny advertisers a chance to bring into this market the much needed
forex and investments in terms of advertisement.
How will we police international digital
media platforms like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube and Twitter
With local content pegged at 45 per cent it
means for the poor Kenyans who cannot afford satellite and cable TV subscription
like DSTV and ZUKU they will be starved of information through local free to
air channels while the families of the elite enjoy robust plurality through
broadband, internet, and paid up channels. This is simply discrimination”.
Fast backward: After repeated provocations
by a ragtag militia called al-shabaab, Kenyans and the world was treated to a rare
and spectacular event when the then government of President Mwai Kibaki
displayed the little known Kenyan might in the form of the KDF. The media went
frenzy with photos and videos of our troops and machinery entering Somalia
The much needed media, journalists in
bullet proof vests, updated the world daily on the victories by the Kenyan
Defence Forces pushing farther and farther into the war ravaged Somali, leaving
in its trail destruction and total demoralisation of the al-shabaab. One
colonel Ogona, then the KDF spokes person, himself the personified KDF, became
a media darling frequently appearing on all types of media sets for briefs.
For the first time we got to see that the
KDF was not a group of men whose pot bellies threatened to burst out the
buttons excruciatingly holding them in uniform, tumbo mbele matako nyuma style,
but a disciplined force of beautiful young women and men in good physique
bravely ready and willing to kick a butt or die for their country.
The media with or without the intention,
rightly glorified our soldiers boosting their moral while psychologically
pushing the shameless al-shabaab whimpering shyly in a lonely corner.
The media completed the hero’s picture by
reporting the good deeds of the soldiers in every encounter with the people of
Somali whom the terrorist group had held under draconian laws not much
different from the one just passed in Parliament.
Obviously the al-shabaab did not like being
hit very hard very much and in very many words swore to revenge.
Fast forward: Through a back door, the
al-shabaab entered Kenyan again and after days of preparations attacked one of
the most secure public places in Nairobi
The media was held at bay while KDF commenced
a ‘house cleaning’ after the much more adequate Recce squad fought for control
of the mall in a few hours of the first day of the siege. The KDF, in the
process of regaining territory is reported to have killed one of the Recce
commanders after appearing uninvited opposite the already stationed Recce.
But the almost concluded exercise took the
KDF four days, each day with a promise that the KDF had control of the
situation. After the smoke literary settled, CCTV videos appeared showing what
became the shame of the land, KDF solders carrying paperbags after allegedly
looting.
The first blunder, though excused as a
precautionary measure, was to hold back the media while the world waited
expectantly for updates on the siege, the second was to enter the scene of
action without a proper protocol.
Well, we were later told that the good boys
were only carrying water which they were given by the supermarket boss, the
same supermarket boss who hade already suggested otherwise.
Three members of the KDF were arrested and
are facing the law for the same action, while the truth about what really
happened will remain hash hash…
It is heels after these exposés that the undesirable
bill was brought to parliament.
It is not wise to ridicule our defence
forces. We understand that the work our brave men and women do at the front
line is a sacrifice to our nation and must not be underrated. But just as
important is the media as part of a democratic Kenya
As Council of Imams And Preachers of Kenya
(CIPK) general secretary said “Introducing such retrogressive law is a clear signal that some
people want to hide information from Kenyans.”
It would seem that the Jubilee government
may have desired to test the waters when it brought the offensive bill to
parliament, but why? Why would the most modern Kenyan president give space, to
say the least, for the debate of such a bill?
According to the leader of majority Aden
Duale “We have no intention of gagging the media as this will be an affront to
the freedom of expression which we all champion”, so what is the intention
here?
On this I totally agree with former PM
Raila Odinga, “The fact is that the President cleared this Bill in the form in
which it was passed. We can only ask him to have a change of heart and refuse
to sign it because it is bad for the country and goes against the Constitution.”
Yes President Kenyatta should be wary, very
wary that he is already being seen to spoil the freedoms that were acquired
during his predecessor, President Kibaki. It would be a terrible shame if he
was to sign the amendment to the Communications and Information bill into law
and give proof to what the opposition has been accusing him of, taking Kenya
Njoro.
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