MEDIA-KENYA: Stakeholders React with Outrage to New Bill

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Katy Salmon

NAIROBI, May 13 2002 (IPS) - Media houses, lawyers and rights groups have reacted with outrage to a new media bill, which they fear could silence the press in Kenya.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned Kenya’s parliament for passing the bill last week.

“This measure could muzzle the press in a critical election year,” says Peter Takirambudde, executive director of HRW’s Africa division. “Freedom of expression has never been more important in Kenya.”

“Kenya is making a gigantic and tragic step backwards by denying the essence of freedom it claims to cherish. The right to know is a central tenet of democracy but Kenya has criminalised the right to information,” complains East African Standard in its editorial column.

The new bill, which is an amendment to the Books and Newspapers Act, appears to be designed to mute public criticism in the run-up to national elections to be held by the end of this year.

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi is stepping down after two decades in office and the country’s constitution is under review.

Moi is coming under pressure not to give his presidential assent to the bill.

“One of things that we are calling for is that the president should not sign the bill. It’s still not actually been enacted and we’re hoping there’ll be one last reprieve. It’s clearly not a good thing for freedom of expression,” says Binaifer Nowrojee, Kenya researcher for HRW.

The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ), describing the bill as “a betrayal of democracy,” plans to move to court to block the bill. Should it become law, the union will seek a constitutional interpretation.

“This is the saddest and most unfortunate thing that has happened to the media industry in decades and it signifies government efforts to control the media under the guise of regulation.

“MPs rely on the media to inform the public about their campaigns and participation in Parliament yet they are the same ones who want to muzzle the press,” says Ezekiel Mutua, secretary general of the KUJ.

The bill increases publishing fees one hundred times to one million Kenyan shillings, almost 13,000 U.S. dollars. This is far beyond the budget of all but a handful of large publications.

Media owners warn that these exorbitant fees will handicap newspapers economically and silence new voices. The new law is also likely to drive small and provincial publications, such as professional journals and educational community newspapers, out of business.

“Publishing will be a reserve of the rich because poor people cannot afford the security or the high penalties introduced,” says Jackline Anam-Mogeni, a Nairobi lawyer.

Failure to pay the 13,000 U.S. dollar publishing fee will result in 13,000 U.S. dollar fine or up to three years in jail. Vendors and distributors can also be taken to court if they fail to establish whether publishers of every publication they sell have registered and paid up.

“In effect, these fees could curb the right to freedom of expression,” says Takirambudde. “And that right is enshrined in international law and Kenya’s own constitution.”

The government says the legislation is needed to restrain Kenya’s irresponsible gutter press, which regularly prints salacious stories about cabinet ministers’ private lives. But critics claim politicians are trying to cushion themselves from embarrassing pre-election revelations.

Some even believe they are the ones behind the libellous stories. “Everyone knows that the gutter press is a creation of politicians who want to besmirch each other” MP Mukhisa Kituyi charged in Parliament.

Current Kenyan law already constricts publishers by requiring them to register with the government, pay a libel insurance bond, and submit copies of every publication to a government registrar.

Kenya’s government has taken an increasingly aggressive stance towards the media in recent months. The new media bill follows a recent series of defamation and libel cases against newspapers and bookstores, in which high government officials, including President Moi, have won record damages.

Cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott has won a total of Ksh60 million (78,000 U.S. dollars) from three defamation cases. He defended the pay out in Parliament last week, saying courts had the right to give good awards to those whose reputation had been damaged by a reckless press “to teach them a lesson”.

Biwott has repeatedly been accused of involvement in the murder of fellow cabinet minister Robert Ouko more than a decade ago. He has denied the allegations.

Journalists and media owners insist they can clean up the industry on their own. They recently drafted a code of ethics and are forming a regulatory council.

“There are alternate ways that you can put standards for the press including allowing the press themselves to self-monitor which is what they have proposed,” says Nowjoree.

“But by raising the amount of fines and penalising vendors and distributors, basically what they are doing is silencing the press at a time when freedom of expression is critical in Kenya,” she adds.