African Press International (API)

The controversy surrounding the passage in parliament and the assent to Kenya Communications (amendment ) Bill 2008 has opened Kenyan’s mind that the  democratic gains can easily be  reversed. But also watching with a keen eye, from the point of formulation and debate in parliament to eventual sign up and the resultant aftermath, it was  possible to discern something about the Kenyan media. In as much as it deserves a lot of credit to what it has done in terms of democratization, freedom, exposing evils in society and opening up space for debate, it is also largely asleep.

To explain my point, one needs to  examine and follow up attempts to muzzle the media since colonial times in Kenya to the present. Various regimes have used both overt and covert means to fend off the media from their affairs. The  most sanitised has been the use of legislation as with the now Kenya Communications (amendment ) Bill 2008. If you examine the bill it was couched in a manner that it had so many good sections  especially on e-commerce but with some sections such as 88 meant to gag the media. This was akin to poison coated with sugar.

In 2007 through a private member bill a Media bill 2007 was similarly passed in parliament only to be deferred by the president requesting some amendments after a lot of hue and cry. During the KANU era various attempts and more so through the same ministry of Information were made only to be deferred. The Nation Media group was at one time in 1988  barred from covering parliamentary proceedings at the instigation of the then KANU regime. Some of the movers of the  event at the time are still today some prominent members in government .

One thing has been also common at all this time and all through. Our media fraternity have not put strategies in place to fight for their space. When the passage of the now infamous Kenya Communications (amendment ) Bill 2008 was imminent the debate about the bill in the media  was muted and far apart. The media houses surprisingly looked pretty comfortable seated when disaster seemed imminent in the horizon. The forward looking signals from the media houses on the danger lurking and the likelihood of members of parliament taking their revenge was nowhere to be seen. I only saw one media house taking a fervent attempt to alert the public when it was already too late.

What is my point. The media has been doing a good job but they have not managed their risks properly. It is akin to a mason or carpenter who builds good houses for others but lives with a leaking roof or a shadow of a house. This unfortunately is  our media from an honest and critical eye. Disaster preparedness by the media is lacking. In Kenya , Africa and most of the third world  where democracy and good governance only exist in the mouths of politicians you can’t afford to leave anything to chance. Unfortunately with due regard to  the perceptions of the politicians and bureaucrats the media is an enemy to be crushed at the earliest opportunity.

This is not to mean that the media is made of angels. There are rotten eggs within it which the fraternity need to contain. But the  Media as we know it is a necessity. It is even a basic necessity if the society has to progress. The ability to open up dirty schemes  and minds for the public consumption remain critical. But those benefiting from dark  hate that. Whether it is the past, present or future government, those in high echelons of the society  and even incidentally a portion of low echelons the media will always be abhorred.

As one government functionary observed,  the media in the Western world like US, UK and Canada  has a cluster of laws governing them. However the media  there is free. Moreover, you would not expect those countries to have the level of incivility in terms of governance as exist in Africa and most of the third world. Therefore the offending clauses in Kenya Communications (amendment ) Bill 2008 are an aberration to the Kenyan society in 21^st century.

But has the media fraternity viz. owners, journalists, writers, commentators and other interest groups learnt something. The road to freedom is still bumpy. The re-negotiation is not enough. Indeed it is also suspect. With Kibaki succession gaining currency expect the intense intrigues , subtle fights, scheming, positioning and adversarial roughshoding to bred more danger to the media. This succession is also different from the past. There is no strong  party as we had with KANU. There is no apparent chosen heir. In addition the 2007 experience remains a bad omen until we fully and properly institutionalize and sanitise our governance. With intense competition  for the top honours and with the resultant ills, there is all the temptation to tame the media.

The simple message to the Kenyan media is that ‘not yet Uhuru’. You are not free yet. The desire to tame you is still strong. This is time to form strong groups and lobbies with tentacles in all sectors that matter such as the civil society and even the private sector. A weak media leads to a backward  and retrogressed society. A strong  free and disciplined media sows the seed  for growth and development.

<Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda

 Nairobi

 Kenya.