Why the proposed Media Bill is ‘almost perfect’

Journalists in Nairobi protest against the proposed Media Bill./mapambano

The proposed media bill has not only appalled many but also cast doubts as to whether good state-press relations will ever find a footing in a country that preaches democracy and practices something else.

Leaders from every nook and cranny have poured vitriol on Members of the Kenyan parliament for passing what experts term as a “repressive and unconstitutional” law, which is alleged to strip any remaining freedom from the media.

A fortnight ago, former vice president Kalonzo Musyoka warned of a return to dictatorship if MPs keep alive their efforts to gag the press and silence the civil society, the only remaining critics of the present government.

Poured vitriol

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga echoed his sentiments, and called for a free press.

As deputy president William Ruto exudes confidence that the president will not sign the bill, all eyes now focus on the president, waiting to see if he will make good his promise.

President Kenyatta says he will not sign the bill before ironing out contentious issues with all stakeholders; a local daily quoted him as saying.

An expert privy to the contents of the contentious bill intimated that some parts are good as they will promote professionalism in the media industry, while other parts of the same bill remained vague and potentially punitive to media houses and journalists.

“The media should be left to self regulate themselves like other professions. For instance, lawyers have the Law Society of Kenya, teachers have the Teachers Service Commission, while doctors have the Medical Practitioners Board.” Says Mr. Kerich, an expert in media relations.

“I do not see why the media council should not be strengthened to regulate the press that is in line with international standards.’ Adds Mr.Kerich.

Trying sheep in a hyenas court

According to the proposed bill, the government will form a vague board that will regulate what the media reports, and unfortunately, no member of the said board is a journalist.

“This is ridiculous.  It is like trying sheep in a hyena’s court and expecting justice.” chided another expert.

The bill also proposed exorbitant fines for individual journalists who are caught on the wrong side of the law.

“Errant journalists will part with at least Shs 1 Million, same applies to the media houses,” Said Henry Onchoka, a media consultant.

The crime might be something as minor as “failing to separate facts from opinion,” he adds.

Onchoka says this will result to a suppressed media so fearful to report the happenings and risk going out of business due to such sanctions as heavy fines and threats to their reporters.

Journalists summoned

A fortnight ago, Kenyans reeled in shock after the government summoned two journalists for exposing and portraying the police as thieves.

Mohamed Ali and John Allan Namu of the Standard Group had aired CCTV footage allegedly showing Kenya Defence Forces soldiers carrying bulging white plastic bags bearing the logos of Nakumatt supermarket, as they tried to secure the Westgate Mall following an attack by the Somalia militant group Al Shabaab.

Interior cabinet secretary Joseph Ole Lenku was quoted as saying that the journalist duo acted as if they were glorifying the terrorists and vehemently denied the soldiers looted as claimed.

An army spokesperson reportedly said the security forces were carrying drinking water from the supermarket which was located inside the mall.

Lenku later admitted that some soldiers looted, and sure enough, a few were dismissed and arraigned in courts.

“A case in point is that if the media did not expose the rot at the Westgate, no one could ever know thus they must be allowed of their place as the fourth estate,” added the expert.

“This is vendetta; I believe the MPs are trying to silence the media after they have been portrayed as greedy and selfish since claiming a salary increment.

This is not how democracies work. They  (parliamentarians) are public officers and the public must know what their representatives are doing,” says Kerich.

Weed out quacks

“They should give media a chance to do their work, and I am still waiting to see how this works out because the politicians are also the guys who own the media houses.” Adds Onchoka.

“However, we must agree that the same bill seeks to streamline the profession and also to create more employment.  If those contentious issues are solved, I think we have a very good and realistic bill here,” says Onchoka.

The bill proposes that at least 60 per cent of the broadcast content be local, thereby reviving the sick horse that is the film industry.

Currently, local media houses have been feeding their audience on cheap and third rate films from Nigeria and Asia, building foreign economies while depriving the local industry of massive income.

“Kenya boasts of top notch film makers and actors who can even hold a candle to their Nigerian counterparts, and it is sad we knowingly sit on our film industry, a local gold mine,” a top rated film maker lamented.

“Just recently, the government introduced Uwezo fund which is aimed at empowering the youth, and even film makers were not left behind. A fund was introduced to support those making good local content and this is a very good move as it will create jobs in this sector,”

The new bill also seeks to license all practitioners in a bid to weed out quacks who have infested the industry like fleas.

According to a highly placed expert who wished not to be named, the media industry is now “full of fame hungry pretenders and quacks, and just a few professionals,” that is why the best journalists are still jobless while people who have never seen the inside of a media school now ’rule the airwaves.”

Or rather, which other profession do we find people just joining without any vetting?

“In Kenya, you just need to get famous, and you get that media job, that is why we have some very irresponsible scribes,” said Job Kiarie, a media practitioner.

“We must be able to shield our institutions from a rogue parliament or else we go back to the dark oppressive days when Kenyans had to look over their shoulders before saying anything.” Maintains Mr. Kerich.

*Names have been edited to protect the identities of the respondents.

Why the Westgate cash will be pinched

PHOTO: Courtesy

Kenyans spirit of togetherness and love was best captured in the ensuing moments after terrorists attacked shoppers in Nairobi’s premier shopping Mall few weeks ago, and man, people gave their all, including money, assurance and even blood, in a public show of solidarity.

However, there is a new twist to the finances collected in aid of the victims.

In a land where everything turns to a full blown scandal in a matter of days, fresh fears have emerged after mobile phone service providers which initiated the assistance program announced that monies collected surpassed the expected amount by far, opening a new gateway for people with sticky fingers to reward their pockets.

300 million in days

It was reported that Kenyans raised a whopping 300 million within days, though questions were raised over whether the response could have been te same had poor Kenyans, the riffraff of the society, had been in the thick of things as has happened before.

Just a quick preview, tragedies of even bigger intensity than the Westgate have rocked Kenya, from the Sachang’wan fire tragedy where more than a hundred perished as they tried to salvage fuel from a burning tanker, to unknown numbers of others dying out of hunger and starvation in far flung Turkana.

Burnt to death

Still, dozens were burnt to death as they tried to siphon petrol from another tanker in Nairobi’s Industrial area.

However, most Kenyans watched, and pointed fingers to the victims who, quite reasonably, had shed the fear of death in a bid to feed their families, oblivious of the danger involved.

 No one came to their aid, save for the humanitarian organization, The Kenya Red Cross, and a few politicians eager to make a name out of it. So the question goes, why was the recent tragedy treated with kid gloves?

Why did it raise so many hullabaloos?

Was it because the Big fish were involved, who consequently whipped the small fish into helping them?

Why did it take so long for Kenyans to respond to the Turkana starvation?

Interestingly, the Kenyans for Kenya initiative which was formed to aid those affected by the killer drought in Turkana raised more than half a billion shillings, and though there were a few hushed questions over whether the amount was embezzled or not, that was just extra ordinary.

Back to the West gate affair. How ironical that the money, having exceeded the amount required, now lies un used, and the handlers of the said cash cannot figure out what to do with the cash?

Revolving fund

Something should be done. There are still pockets of people sleeping hungry all over the country; others have been detained in hospitals after failing to pay the hefty bills.

What about forming a revolving fund for helping those involved in such tragedies, like a fund which is always there, where people can contribute throughout?

The fund could be managed by the Kenya Red Cross and could come in handy whenever Kenyans find themselves in such tragedies.

Enough said!

Of pulling out of ICC, and elusive justice

If news doing rounds in the local scene are anything to go by, it is little secret the H.E the president of the Republic of Kenya, who is a suspect at the International Criminal Court, will not attend the hearing of his case, a move that is set to stir a heated debate over the fate of the victims of Post Election Violence.

President Kenyatta, together with his deputy and Radio journalist Joshua Sang are facing war crimes and crimes against humanity leveled against them by The Hague based court.

A fortnight ago, cabinet secretary in charge of foreign affairs insinuated that at no time in history has any head of state appeared before any court of law to answer to criminal charges.

“No” to Rome statute

Little wonder that she confirmed what the Kenyan parliament has been mulling over for quite sometimes now.

For the record, parliament has been preparing a motion to pull Kenya out of the gnashing jaws of the ICC, a motion that “is set to be tabled at the floor of the House soon,” Majority leader Adan Dualle told the press in Nairobi.

As the government grapples with the question of how to deal with the trials which have claimed the audience of the top most echelons of power , thousands of victims, still languishing in appalling conditions inside tents say any remaining hopes of ever getting justice now hang on the balance.

Political pundits have predicted dire consequences for the East African nation if the presidency makes the move, and a stall in international relations will be among the short term implications as the outside world supposedly slaps Kenya with economic sanctions.

However, a survey conducted by a private media house indicated that most Kenyans were contented with the presidency skipping the trials, claiming that the country is sovereign, while a handful thought that this will promote a culture of impunity in a country reeling from the aftermath of the 2007 post election crisis which claimed the lives of at least 1000 people.

Permanently disabled

Scores of others were injured, while dozens remain maimed, permanently disabled and unable to fend for themselves.

More than 500, 000 were also left landless and consigned to the tents.

The president is on record promising to honor court summons and to appear before the ICC, and many have now been left wondering, why the cold feet? Why now?

His deputy is already at The Hague where he is attending a hearing of his case. His conformity with the ICC could only fuel speculation that his senior will follow suit and take his stand, in a move that could have given the victims a lifeline, as justice could have been done, or be seen to be done.

nothing happened after the 2007 election

In a worst case scenario where the presidency gives the court a wide berth, PEV victims will be handed a final and fatal blow as there is nowhere else to turn to, sadly, and as expected, there is not even a local mechanism to try anyone.

It is like nothing happened after the 2007 election.

The question remains, who will fight for the victims?

The move might been seen as the best by the powers that be, but, what if a repeat of the violence recurs in the near future?

Who will try who?

Will justice be meted on the victims and the perpetrators of the violence?

What will happen to that man or woman who saw his or her children been butchered, just because they came from the wrong tribe?

Will the woman who was burnt but survived to tell the story ever get justice?

What about the orphaned? Their lives were turned into nightmares after their parents were butchered by bloodthirsty goons, all in the name of politics?

What about the yelling voices of women and children who were burnt to death inside a church where they had sought refuge, will their spirits be avenged?

Who performed the atrocities?

What happened to more than the reportedly 500 people named by the Commissions of inquiries formed to investigate the violence?

Where will they be tried, who will try them, what happened, why is there no local court trying them?

Was the ICC the only path to justice?

Where are the human rights activists, the defenders of the poor, the champions of justice?

Kenyans and the government will wish the above questions away, simply because you were not affected does not mean you will never be affected. Next time it might be you.

Sadly, it is like hiding our heads in the sand to avoid seeing a disaster.

I rest my case, hoping that God will hearken to the cry of the victims, the wretched of the earth.

GOD BLESS KENYA.

The Westgate Paradox

A week ago, bloodthirsty gun totting terrorists descended on Kenya’s premier upmarket shopping mall, The Westgate and for four solid days ,made it their battlefield, holding dozens of Kenyans hostage and leaving 67 innocent Kenyans, among them women and children, lying lifeless in their wake.

They belong to hellfire. They are devil’s agents.

However, as the dust finally settles, as those slain in the horrific attack are finally laid to eternal rest,(May their soul rest in peace) and as forensic experts comb the crime scene looking for evidence, the attack has  opened a fray of questions from any quarters , which sadly, no one is answering.

The experts are said to have sealed off the place to the media, a move that has left tongues wagging, and questions flying left right and centre, as speculations heighten over the identity of the terrorists, and as to what really transpired inside the besieged building.

Below is a raft of questions that this writer is grappling with, all of them coming from the members of the public. Here we go.

1.     Was there a  confusion between the police, the General Service Unit Recce Company, and the Armed forces, thus giving the terrorists time to organize themselves?

A local media house stated that at the initial stages minutes after the attack, certified gun holders around the Westgate, together with armed security forces engaged the terrorists In a fierce gun battle, and set the tempo giving the terrorists no time to reorganize their line of attack.

However, this was altered when the police came in, and the security men had to be pulled aside,giving the terrorists a lifeline.

Minutes later, The G.S.U are said to have pulled out the  police thus creating a gap before they started  engaging the terrorists again.

The fete was repeated when Kenya Defence Forces came into the scene.

This is when the terrorists got the much needed breather and launched a lethal attack, their snipers killing six of the KDF soldiers in a blazing gunfire, local newspapers reported.

2.    What happened to the hostages and the terrorists after the government claimed it had taken control of all the floors of the building? Did they shoot them?. If Yes, how come there are no more bodies which have been found since Tuesday?

Before Tuesday there were definitely an unknown number of people in the mall. However, the government through the interior ministry maintained that the forces had taken control of the mall, yet no more was said of the people who were inside at that particular time.

3.    Did the Kenyan forces shoot indiscriminately, killing their own civilians? And possibly covering it up by well coordinated efforts to ward off the media from the scene, terming it a scene of crime?

4.    Why is the government monopolizing information coming from the mall and go ahead to urge everyone to believe only what is coming from the government?

5.    Who were those soldiers who were white/European who rescued people 45 minutes after the attack?

A rescued hostage narrated how people were afraid after seeing te white soldiers, so afraid that some refused to come out of the building fearing for their lives, thinking that those too were terrorists.

6. Why were killed terrorists not paraded at least to the media?

7. The government claimed to have rescued several hostages Tuesday. What happened       to the rescued hostages, where did they go? Who saw them?

8.What is the official death toll? Why are the government, the police  and the Red Cross giving contradicting information with regard to the numbers of those killed and those still missing?

9. Who set the vehicles on fire and why?

10.  Are claims of looting true? Who did it?

11. Why did the building cave in?

12. Were chemical weapons used by the Kenyans forces? Why is it that there is no more bodies recovered after the Kenya Army claimed full control of the building?

13. Was there a female terrorist in there?

14. Why couldn’t they use other means to neutralize the terrorists?

For instance, use a mixture of tear gas, irritating water, or even hire the witchdoctor who allegedly controls bees.

I hear bees could have neutralized them in a minute, prompting them to drop their guns.

Here, the damned terrorists could have been arrested while the hostages could have been taken to hospitals, suffering from only multiple bee stings rather than gun shots. Sometimes it simplicity that carries the day.

15. Were there intelligence reports on the attack weeks before it happened, and who was napping on his job?

16. Where are the terrorists, dead or alive? could they possibly have disappeared disguising themselves as civilians?

For instance, one rescued victim narrated to a local media house how one of the attackers was dressed:

A blue pair of jeans,a black T-shirt and a scarf. Simply saying,  without a gun, there was no  way one could have established that he was one of the attackers.

How could he have escaped? By just removing the scarf, throwing down the heavy riffle and walking to his freedom.

Unconfirmed reports show that at least one of the attackers moved out with the victims and though one of the victims who saw him raised the matter with the security forces, nothing came out of it.

So, why didn’t the government ensure that everyone who came out of the building  were  thoroughly vetted to check on any irregularity?

17. Is the government trying to cover up something? Say a major security lapse?

These questions come from worried Kenyans who are requesting immediate answers, or at least information related to the above.

Even though the matter is under investigation, the more the silence, the more the questions.

Someone tell Kenyans!

Coming to terms with the ‘White Widow’

Her name has been floated since the Westgate attack. Some claim that she might have been involved, others say she was a financier, while others just mention her name not knowing the role she played or even whether she was involved.

Samantha Lewthwaite is her name. She is also known as Sherafiya Lewthwaite or the “White Widow”.

And why the White Widow? Some may ask.

Samantha was married to Germaine Lindsay, a 7/7 suicide bomber who bombed a train in London killing 26 civilians.

Samantha, who converted to Islam at the age of 17, is said to have condemned her husband’s move, claiming that he was mislead by a few  extremists since he was a new convert.

And the White widow is not new to controversy. She is reported to have sold a story to the Sun for $30,000, a story claiming that she did not know her husband was involved in such acts of terror.

Forensic investigators into the incidence are said to have implicated her to the bombings saying she planned with the attackers’ way before the bombings.

Lewthwaite is also said to have been very serious about Islam after she converted.

She was so serious that she started isolating herself from others students and donning full length Islamic attire. She became an introvert, BBC reports.

Born in Banbridge, County Down to a former British soldier, Samantha was raised as a disciplined child, and her parents’ marriage was in constant problems, she is said to have been affected by that, thus seeking solace from their Muslim neighbors where she thought she could find peace, before converting to Islam.

Their parents finally separated and Samantha moved to Aylesbury,Buckinghamshire.

She met Lindsay in an Islam internet chat room and they consecrated their marriage months later in an elaborate Muslim wedding.

Lewthwaite is now believed to be a fugitive running from justice in Kenya, where she is accused to have been behind last year’s Mombasa bombing, where hundreds were attacked were watching the Euro 2012 tournament in a bar.

Media and security reports have linked Miss Lewthwaite to the September 21 attack of Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi.

She is 28.