Changes suggested by President Kenyatta
to the controversial electronic media Bill as he sent it back to the
National Assembly have been denounced as unconstitutional and
repressive.
Media interest groups were in uproar Friday
as the full implications of amendments proposed by the President in
rejecting the Kenya Information and Communications Authority (Amendment)
Bill, 2013 became clear.
The President’s changes
transfer control of institutions, which can punish journalists and their
employers from the National Assembly to the Executive and the
Presidency.
The amendments also retain the fines of
Sh20 million against media houses earlier proposed by MPs and expands
the offences for which media houses can be punished by a
government-controlled tribunal.
Referring to a 33-page
document handed to MPs on Wednesday evening, journalists, editors and
media owners said the President appeared to have gone beyond his powers
by prescribing to MPs what they should include in the Bill before he
could assent to it rather then rejecting the Bill and stating why.
“It’s
quite clear that the Executive and the National Assembly are determined
to trample on the Constitution in their desire to control the media,”
Media Council of Kenya chairman Joseph Odindo said. “The President’s
recommendations are as bad as the Bill passed by Parliament. We are
considering the next course of action.
”
”
Protests
yesterday came from the Kenya Editors Guild, Kenya Correspondents
Association and the Media Council, while the Media Owners Association is
preparing to send a formal objection to the President and the National
Assembly.
They all make the point that while the new
laws were supposed to fulfil the section of the new Constitution, which
guarantees media freedom, the involvement of the Cabinet Secretary and
the President in making decisions, which would curtail media freedom,
has been built into the President’s recommendations to MPs.
President
Kenyatta has asked Parliament to include in the Bill a provision that
would empower the Information and Communications Cabinet Secretary to
issue policy guidelines to the Communications Authority, the successor
of the Communications Commission of Kenya.
For
instance, the President or the Cabinet secretary control the appointment
of members of the Kenya Information and Communications Authority board,
which will license broadcast companies and manage use of the airwaves,
yet the Constitution requires that the licensing board should be
independent.
Previously MPs had stipulated that board members would be vetted and removed by the House.
A
person who wants a board member removed would merely need to satisfy
the Cabinet Secretary that this is necessary and the President would
then appoint a tribunal headed by a judge to investigate the matter.
A
similar process applies to the appointment and removal of members of
the Communications and Multimedia Tribunal, which has the power to
punish media houses and journalists.
Critics point out
that while President Kenyatta accepts that sections of the Bill are
unconstitutional, he does not recommend their deletion, but instead goes
ahead to modify the related penalties or to strengthen them. For
example, his memorandum says penal sanctions for breaches of the
journalist’s code of ethics may be improper, but then goes ahead to
restore the Sh20 million fine against media houses and reduce the fine
against individual journalists from one million shillings to Sh500,000.
The
journalists pointed out that it was unconstitutional for the President
to retain the government-controlled Multimedia Review Tribunal under the
Authority — and give it powers to listen to any complaint against the
media, including those on the conduct of journalist and what they write —
when the Constitution only allows for restrictions regarding licenses
and management of the airwaves.
“Many of the
prescriptions President Kenyatta has made on the KICA Bill are contrary
to the provisions of Article 34 of the Constitution, which basically
asks the government to keep off the media,” said Editors’ Guild
vice-chairman David Ohito.
“That article also sets
media ‘free to determine independently the editorial content of their
broadcasts or other communications,
”
”
The argument from
both the media practitioners and the owners has been that the
Communications Authority and related tribunals should regulate the use
of frequencies and the broadcast spectrum and the Media Council deal
with matters of media ethics and professional standards.
“The
Media Council is the only body we recognise, as professionals, which
can deal with issues of content and ethics and enforce professional
standards. We don’t want a tribunal. Why do you want to try journalists
in a kangaroo court?” Mr Ohito posed in reference to the proposed
Multimedia Appeals tribunal, which can listen to complaints concerning
“any actions taken, any omission or any decision made” by a journalist,
according to the President’s amendment.
Friday, Mr
Ohito and Kenya Correspondents Association officials William Janak and
Moses Radoli said they would lobby MPs to vote against the memorandum.
“But
in the event that MPs endorse the memorandum of President Uhuru
Kenyatta, be sure we’ll be in the courts with some of the best lawyers
in this country to challenge it on the basis of failing the
constitutional muster,” Mr Ohito said.
A committee of
the Media Owners Association also met yesterday and is understood to be
preparing a protest memorandum to the President and the National
Assembly.
Similarly, the Media Council is said to be
preparing an official objection to Mr Kenyatta’s amendments, which they
say are as unconstitutional as the Bill the National Assembly passed.
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