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Is press freedom under threat in Kenya?

By: Jerry Okungu

[ Posted On: 2006-05-19 ]

The media industry in this country must brace itself for unfamiliar territory.

The unprecedented press freedom which has been hailed as an example to the whole of Africa if not the entire world is definitely under threat if the events of the last two months are anything to go by.

This time round, it would look like not only are nosy reporters under threat. The very media houses that employ hundreds of journalists along with a couple of thousands of correspondents, newspaper vendors, distributors and advertising agencies are under siege too.

Yes, the threat of violence is real and ominous, if utterances from some of our custodians of the law are anything to go by.

Some time back, all we knew and expected were a few arrests of journalists and editors that were thought by the state apparatus to be daring and bold enough to write stinging pieces about the excesses of the regime in power. They would be arrested, arrayed in court and once in a while they would be acquitted either on the orders of the Attorney General or the sitting magistrate.

However, as things stand now, nobody really can tell the future of a vibrant and free press that has given this nation a semblance of respect among nations. The present regime seems seriously divided on the meaning of threat to national security.

This division is visible between the executive arm of the government and parliament and among cabinet ministers on the other.

The Internal Security Minister has no apologies to make over the raid at the Standard and KTN offices two months ago. He is swearing to repeat the same act again soon if the media house does not mend its ways. He strongly believes that the threat to national security resides within the corridors of this media house. However, Koigi Wa Wamwere, the assistant minister in charge of Information and Communication has had a change of heart. He thinks Michuki's utterances are a threat to press freedom. He feels very strongly that Michuki has no basis for infringing on press freedom.

His sentiments are shared by Kabete Member of Parliament who happens to chair a parliamentary committee on Media and Press Freedom.

Since the raid at the Standard Group two months ago by hooded men suspected to be hired mercenaries and a special police crack force, Muite's parliamentary committee has been investigating the reasons behind the raid that the government claimed responsibility for. However, his committee reached a dead end when summons to the Police Commissioner and the Director of CID to appear before it were apparently blocked by the Security Minister. This is the one fact that has sent Muite's hair standing.

Raids aside, the media has had a series of arrests in recent times that include two occasions involving various senior editors at the Standard and one incident involving senior editors at the Times Media Group.
This is not to mention occasional arrests of publishers of the alternative press along with the confiscation of published editions from street vendors.

More worrying is the fact that two months after the Standard raid, another group of hooded thugs, similar to the goons that vandalized the Standard newsroom were at it again. This time round, they visited Hope FM, a Christian radio station housed at the Pentecostal Church compound on Valley Road. They left untold destruction of broadcast equipment, its building and one person dead in their wake.

Somehow, though the raid was so similar to the one at the Standard in style and attire of the goons, the government this time did not claim responsibility. If anything, Mutahi Kagwe, Minister for Information and Communication hurriedly visited the scene in the company of church officials and condemned the raid in the strongest terms.

Curiously, and oblivious to the trauma the latest raid had caused the nation, Minister Michuki still found it very much in order to issue another threat to the so called wayward media houses that paused a threat to national security!

This new threat to press freedom has not come as a surprise to anybody. In a society like ours, where the top leadership has proved to have little regard for the law, it is not possible to hold public official to account. It has been the habit, especially of cabinet ministers to break the law, disregard judicial orders and literally be the law unto themselves. In this connection, John Michuki is not the only culprit. The difference is that John does it with brazen arrogance that even President Kibaki would never dream of.

What makes this threat to the media more dangerous is the fact that the media itself is a fragmented industry that never speaks with one voice. Whenever it tries to come together for some selfish reason, its temporary unity is quickly scuttled by selfish interests and divided loyalty between state and commercial interests.

For years the same media has struggled to form a self regulatory body that would mediate between the media, the government and members of the public whenever disputes arose, however all the industry has ever achieved has been a lacklustre back and forth attempt at drafting a Media Bill. All indications are that even the Media Bill that took the industry two years to draft is now under interrogation by the same captains of the industry. In fact knowledgeable sources indicate that since the Standard raid, the industry has developed cold feet on having a media Bill that would give the government a tool to run it out of town at will.

But the biggest setback was for the media industry to set up an outfit called the Media Council of Kenya that has remained not only toothless in the face of blatant interference with press freedom but has been highly ineffective in enforcing the code of ethics for the industry it took part in developing. Need we question the competence of that outfit's leadership?

To cap it all, the last two weeks have seen another assault on the media of another kind. Suddenly out of the blues two leading media captains have lost their place in the industry under mysterious circumstances.
Tom Mshindi suddenly found it necessary to part ways with the Standard Group after three years without the option to renew his contract despite credible performance at the once loss making outfit. The industry is abuzz with various versions of the rumour as to how and why he left so suddenly.

In quick succession, Wachira Waruru found himself transferred to Kenya Film Commission where his services were most needed at this critical time of the thriving Film Industry in Kenya. This was not withstanding the fact that the reform and reorganization process he had initiated at KBC was still midstream.

Between Tom Mshindi and Wachira Waruru, they had a few things in common.

They were both veteran journalists and the first industry professionals to become chief executives of media houses. Apart from their relative youthfulness they brought freshness to the industry that hitherto purely business oriented industry captains never had. They directed news content according to their professional training and philosophy. They gave their editors breathing space while provided necessary firewall against partisan politics. They went for balanced reporting and whenever their juniors errored, they were quick to acknowledge and apologise to all and sundry.

Whatever informed the decision to replace the two managers at KBC and at the Standard Group in quick succession will be difficult to know but the fact is; they left a vacuum that the industry will take time to adjust to.

Finally, the only accolade the industry and the two organizations can give the two gentlemen is to wish them well in their new endeavours while at the same time urging their colleagues they left behind not to squander the gains and contributions these two people had made to press freedom in Kenya.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author:

Jerry Okungu is a freelance political analyst based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jerry also serves as a Board Director at The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Jerry has written extensively on issues affecting Kenya and the rest of Africa over the years. He can be reached at Jerryokungu[at]hotmail.com. Other articles written by Jerry Okungu are available at this location

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