Scribes to stage protest over Uhuru memo

By John Muthoni

Journalists drawn from all media houses will on Tuesday hit the streets to oppose President Uhuru Kenyatta’s memorandum on the media Bill.

 The scribes said the document does not bring any difference to the one recently passed by the Parliament. The Kenya Media Editors Guild and Kenya Correspondents Association called on all journalists across the country to come out on Tuesday to protest against the memorandum.

 The officials said the President’s memorandum did not offer a relief and it amounted to more draconian settlement of the freedom of speech as set out in the Constitution.

David Ohito, the vice-chairman Editor’s Guild said they were not satisfied by the move to place the memorandum before the Parliament for debate and adoption without involving all stakeholders, sighting mischief by the Government.

“The media Bill has become more draconian and targeting individual journalists. How can one pay Sh500,000 and the media houses part with Sh20 million while they are controlling the media content and advertisements?” Ohito asked. He said media practitioners would move to court to challenge the constitutionality of the Bill.

He said that they will present their own memorandum before the Parliament during the protest.

President challenged

“We challenge the President to take personal responsibility about the whole issue and allow for media freedom,” he said. Among the issues of contention is the tribunal, which has been given power to regulate the content that is aired in the media. He said that lack of specifications about the same would amount to having the tribunal muzzle what Kenyan viewers enjoy.

“The tribunal dealing with the media content is unacceptable. Initially it was proposed that we have to run 60 per cent of local content but was later taken down to 45 per cent. In the memorandum it is open ended. What if the tribunal authorises that the content will be 90 per cent?,” Ohito posed.

Moreover, composition of the tribunal is said to be unfair to journalists as other professions have been inserted to make decisions, which are out of their practice. The officials said they are not against regulations but concerned with the process in which the Government is moving the Bill.

They said that the Attorney General, Githu Muigai and the Cabinet Sectary for Communication, Fred Matiangi have been left out in darkness about the clauses in the memorandum. Moses Radoli, the Secretary General of Kenya Correspondents Association in the same briefing said that the memorandum will place a platform in which journalists will relay information in fear and therefore crippling the truth that is essential to the public.

“We are calling upon the Members of Parliament to come to our aid and deny the memorandum to go through,” he said. Robert Alai, a blogger, said the Bill would wear heavily on individual bloggers who have had space to question government’s operations in the past.