PRESS FREEDOM

            PREREQUISITES OF PRESS FREEDOM IN KENYA

The United Nations Universal Declaration of human rights Article 19 defines press freedom as; “the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”Although this definition might not be universal, it does to some extend sums up what press freedom means in most states.

            Since press freedom is important in social, economic and political development of the people, the state must provide an arable ground for growth of such freedom. Article 33 (1) of the constitution Of Kenya on freedom of expression clearly states that, “every person has the right to freedom of expression which includes-freedom to seek, receive or impart information or ideas.”This means that from people seeking information from the government officials, bloggers offering their opinions on internet to newspaper columnist expressing their points of view on pages of dailies. The government must accommodate all these. And although such freedoms are limited courtesy of constitutional provisions, it does not either give a state the power to freely oppress by arresting and intimidation of journalists whereby they misuses such freedom.

            Free ownership of the media is also a key ingredient to press freedom in Kenya. For people to get all different views of information on issues, ownership of the media should not be restricted to certain people on the basis of class, culture religion or political views. Everyone has a free will to choose what to listen to what to watch or discard. If it’s a person looking up something on internet, he/she can take what suits them best as contemplated on Article 35 of the constitution of Kenya 2010.The state is also restricted from exercising control or interfering with production and circulation of information by a medium as Article 34 (2,3,4) states that, “the state shall not –(a) exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or dissemination of information by any medium or (b) penalize any person for any opinion or view on the content of any broadcast, publication or dissemination.”

            Part three of this article also gives any person a freedom to establish a media house, electronic or print broadcast. And although this is subject to licensing procedures, any media house will be established regardless of politics or other factors. It states that, “broadcasting and other electronic media have freedom of establishment, subject only to licensing procedures.” It goes further to expound on reason for such procedures.

            The state must also surrender information that is important to the public. Such information are those held by the state officials regarding public funds,spending,security of the state or any information held by another person that might require the state to compel such person to give such information that might be crucial in exercising or protection of fundamental freedom. Article 35 (1)a and b clearly underlines this freedom with the second part stating that, “every citizen has the right to access information held by the state and any other person and required for exercising or protection of fundamental freedom.” With time the state must also provide the public with information that affect or important for the people as underlined on part three of this article

            Lastly, the state must also refrain from exercising media bias if press freedom is anything to be achieved soon. Laws must be applied equally and accordingly regardless of the views, alienation or nature of the media owners.Kenya has for a long time seen the government attacking media houses with the famous raid of The Standard Group in 2006 standing out.

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MEDIA AND THE STATE

                               Perceived threats of the media over state

        

 When the 10^th parliament passed The Information Communication Bill 2013 a forthright ago, it was clearly seen by many critics as a move by the government to muzzle the ever increasing power of the media. Others viewed this as a tactical move by politicians to take away the democratic space that has been painfully fought for many years since the advent of multipartism in early 1990’s.

            However, irrespective of these opinions, the fact stands out that this bill that has been branded draconian with contagious clauses was hurriedly passed by a house shy of a quorum and its now resting on the hands of the head of state to either make it a law or take it back to the house. Whatever it comes out the whole thing emanated from what the government might have considered an embarrassment when the media openly ex very posed the security weakness and naivity in handling the Westgate mall attack on late September. At the very least the government looked unprepared to handle security emergencies; there was apparent lack of coordination among the various agencies that were involved. Most notably of all, Interior cabinet secretary Joseph Ole Lenku constantly fed the country with conflicting information regarding the number of the terrorist in the mall and the causalities.On the other hand hand army chief General Julius Karangi is alleged to have bullied his way in involving his men to take over the operation to the shock of the various police units that were already carrying out the operation. The media put all these flaws to the public, on the third day of the operation journalist were pushed as far as 300 meters from the mall for what the army considered “security purposes”. In the end the coup ended in a dramatic fashion n left the public with many questions than answers. Consequently the government felt that the media had pinned the too much to the wall.

            Another threat that the media posses over the state are its role in analysis and interpretation of issues. The most crucial role in any state is checking on the government, that is playing the watchdog role. In as much as some government officials might want to strike deals in the dark, establish unconstitutional policies or oppress the citizens among other things, the media cannot relent on such. With most of the state officials taking advantage of the large illiterate population, the media stands for them by explaining, interpreting and analyzing issues that no other institution would have played that role. Most of these government officials have found themselves on the receiving end with regards to issues of corruption, immorality and poor leadership. Nonetheless the press shapes these leaders keeps them on the check and helps to eliminate injustices and helps fight for the oppressed while at the same time trying to stand for the truth and honesty in reporting these issues.

                Even though Article 34 (1) a of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 clearly states that;”The state shall not exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or dissemination of information by any medium”, the press was hugely blamed for aggravating the post-election violence of 2007-08.Many government officials and politicians argued that were it not for the way the media handled the violence, the magnitude of the chaos might not have taken the lives of over 1300 Kenyans and rendered 650,000 homeless.Furthermore,it goes without mention that during that fateful period, most people restricted themselves to their homes catching the events of the elections on television or listening to radio.

The media might have therefore exposed the peaceful places to violence by showing disturbing pictures and sending alarming messages by most vernacular radio stations.In fact, Journalists Joshua Sang at that time a radio presenter at Kass Fm is accused of perpetrating violence by use of radio. He is currently facing the charges at The Hague based court ICC.The state at that time therefore felt that the media frustrated its efforts to quell the violence at a time the country needed it most.

            Emergence of large media industries is also viewed by many as a threat to the government.J.Baran,(2006) when writing on mass communication defined oligopoly-a concentration of media industries into a smaller number of companies and such has an enormous effect on mass communication. This is therefore a great concern to the state in the sense that such kind of media ownership is likely to rival government parastatals with the similar interests besides its impact in communicating to the masses. In some countries a media house is restricted on the number of audience it can concentrate into a niche. The state must therefore work out a plan to curb such continued trend of the media ownership. Already, a clause on such is contained on the bill that is awaiting the presidential assention.

            The nature of the press being a threat must therefore be explored and regulated. On the other hand the media, the public together with the state must strive to achieve a balance on how each must depend on the other.

By Korir.

SECURITY MENACE

‘NYUMBA KUMI’, A RESPITE FOR INSECURITY MENACE

When the government announced last week that ‘Nyumba kumi’ (ten houses) community policing concept was going to be implemented, leaders across the country reacted in different tunes.

KDF OFFICERS AT WESTGATE

First, some members of parliament dismissed the plan on grounds that it will create different centers of power on the grassroots administration, then citizens living in urban centers added the voice that it may not work in such areas .Whether their opinions count or not depends on how positive the Kenyans will be in embracing the initiative.Nyumba kumi seeks to facilitate information sharing and promote confidence between the people and the police. For a long time most Kenyans have either failed to give the police important security information or they have ignored under the guise that it’s none of their business or for the fear of being haunted.

It’s high time that Kenyans should re-think about this and initiate the plan for the security of the country at large. In the wake of the devastating terrorism attack at Westgate last month, police believe that the attackers had rented a house in Parklands three months before they reigned at the mall. This subsequently raised a series of questions to be answered. How did the terrorist manage to stay and operate in that area for such a long time without the suspicion of the neighbours? And if they did suspect their activities, what action was taken?

INTERIOR SECRETARY OLE LENKU

The questions will go a long way to be answered but we can avoid such an incident in future by embracing this initiative that has been hugely successful in our neighboring countries like Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda. In Tanzania the leaders are called balozi (ambassadors) or mwenyekiti wa kitongoji (village chairman).A household has to notify him of all the visitors and their period of stay in that area. This will in turn help the security system to keep a record of movement of people from one area to another and record their activities.

 The onus is therefore on all citizens and leaders to put politics aside and support the government in smoking out criminals and terrorists out the villages and urban areas

HIGHER EDUCATION IN KENYA

STATE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN KENYA APPALLING

When former president Hon Mwai Kibaki elevated The Kenya Polytechnic University College to Technical University of Kenya early this year, it was hugely expected to start a new road map under which higher education in Kenya would be expanded and made accessible to the rapidly increasing population.

            Little did we know that that was not to be case, more universities across the country were chattered bringing to a total number of public universities to twenty. Although this was a good initiative by the government in a bid to streamline vision 2030 agenda, but now the move seems ill timed and misplaced. The new universities are facing multiple challenges of coping up with the bulky number of students admitted by the joint admissions board (JAB) each year. Most of them lack enough infrastructure, academic resource materials, academic staff and accommodation. It therefore leaves us with a huge question whose answer cannot be fathomed. How does a student gets admitted in a university where there is limited or no academic facilities?

            According to the University’s Act, universities are supposed to be research and innovation (www.cue.or.ke/‎ ) centres to provide the country with necessary labour skills in different sectors.Instead; most universities have become theory oriented even in purely technical courses like design, engineering and journalism. Students no longer spend time in practical fields; instead they attend a heavy schedule of lectures ranging from morning to evening throughout the week. Most of these schedules do not take into account that students are supposed to spend time in libraries gathering academic resourses.at the same time these academic resources might not be adequate for all the students and the lectures to conduct studies and research. It’s disgusting that even the administrators of these institutions have turned a blind eye to these obvious challenges. Most of them are either not concerned about the welfare of the students or have given up the challenge coming up with a realistic way of facing out these challenges. They have become too naïve to steer a sector that is so crucial to the industry and economic development of this country.

            On the other hand, the remaining Polytechnics and Technical institutes are slowly being swallowed by the already established universities and turning them into constituent colleges and satellite canpuses.These institutions are supposed to provide middle level skilled labor for the industries that are fast developing and seal a dangerous gap that arises when universities do not provide the required skills. It’s almost impossible to travel nowadays a kilometer without seeing a large billboard or a hurriedly printed banner declaring presence of a university even within an already crowded urban center like Nairobi central business district. If this trend is anything to go by, there is no denying that with time the country will lack the much needed skills that cannot be adequately provided by the universities or other institutions of higher learning.

 Sectors like Agriculture, motor vehicle assembly, design art and jua kali will most likely to lose quality and impact negatively on the economic development of the country.

            Even though there is a common feeling among many academic experts that education is rapidly being commercialized, whether this claim can hold any water or not is not important, what is crucial is for various concerned sectors to put the government to task so as to achieve equilibrium between the output of the training institutions and the industry needs. It simply means the universities and other institutions producing what the industry urgently recur so that cases of wasted skills does not occur.

STUDENTS DURING GRADUATION CEREMONY

            The government therefore needs to seriously evaluate its education policies that will spearhead management of higher education in the country. Establishment of both public and private universities must be controlled while technical institutions and national polytechnics must be protected and autonomies besides adequately equipping and expanding their scopes in terms of programs and training. We need to borrow a leaf from countries such as China, Japan and Indonesia whose economies have thrived tremendously courtesy of an industry friendly education system. Most notably of all, Japans’ education system played a key role in countries’ economic development after the Second World War. Of all the courses offered in vocational programs, 72% account business and industry courses. At the same time most university students fee are subsidized by the government and other related institutions.

This there must act a lesson to our country. We need to reconstruct our higher education policies and re-align them appropriately depending on how best it can boost economic development hence make vision 2030 a reality in the offing.

challenges of higher education in kenya

WHY THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND GOVERNORS WILL BULLY EACH OTHER

When Kenyans unanimously passed the new constitution in in August 2010, it subsequently paved way for creation of 47 counties and new leadership positions namely governors, senators and women representatives.

COUNTY COMMISSIONER AT A GOVERNMENT FUNCTION

However, there was a lot of pomp and color on how the roles of the governors were expected to play out witnessed after the recently concluded general elections. The newly elected governors or the so called County Chief Executives (this is actually how they would like to roll) started making damning demands that has left the country wondering at the extend with which our leaders are obsessed with power and prestige. From demanding to fly our national flag on their motorcades to asking to be allocated with most prestigious working offices, they defiantly want the public to feel the power and prestige that comes along with their positions. Does the public want to feel the same? Do they just want to be ruled? Article 73 CAP 1 (a) of the Kenya constitution 2010 on leadership and integrity is crystal clear on the responsibilities of leadership and states that:

                                                Authority assigned to a state officer-

                                                Is a public trust to be exercised in a manner that-

                                                1. consistent with the purposes and objectives of this constitution,

                                                2. Demonstrates respect for the people

                                                3. Brings honor to the nation and dignity to the office, and

                                                4. Promotes public confidence in the integrity of the office, and

                                                Vests in the state officer the responsibility to serve the people rather than to be ruled.                                                                                

Nairobi governor Dr Kidero taking oath of office

This habit will even be more prevalent in counties that elected ”pure” politicians as their first governors. Precisely more than 80% of the 47 counties elected former politicians to take up these roles. Although habits cannot be cursed on stone and that people can turn into new leaves, but what more can one expect from an ordinary Kenyan politician? Careers that have been nurtured under extremely crude political tactics and maneuvers will continue to depend on the same to survive as long as possible.

Just across the executive arm of the government are county commissioners whose positions were also created recently to replace the previous Provincial Administration are expected to work with governors concurrently at the county level. The commissioners shall be responsible for coordinating security management, national government functions and delivery if services and generally responsible for coordination of national government policies.

What remains to be seen is how they will exercise these duties without brushing shoulders with their counterparts. On the other hand the governors might be met with hostilities from the national government representatives as they try to push both their political and economic agendas. The onus is therefore on the National Transition Authority to clearly define and differentiate the respective functions of the two.

OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK HATE MONGERS!

Since the government announced that all hate mongers are going to be apprehended, the message though clear seemed to have fallen on deaf ears and eyes for that case. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information Dr.Bitange Demo went to an extent of fishing out the names of persons involved and gave out a stern warning on the national television. However, alas! The announcement seemed to have energized them in a way that they responded almost immediately, they responded with advanced degrees of hate, opened up new pages, and added on to their ever-increasing tweets.

The chair of National Cohesion and integration commission (NICK) added to the voice and said:

    “We hope that the prosecution of those individuals will send a strong message against hate mongers on social media. Since there are millions of users and dealing with a few criminals goes a long way to bringing down the hate and criminal behavior online”

However, why do people spew hate more when online than when on any other platform? You walk on the streets and you do not experience any kind of ethnic fuelled hatred, but just log into your Facebook account and u will be perplexed. People tend to imagine that they are anonymous when online and infect use them as their hiding zones. Even with the technological advancements, the government finds it almost impossible bring the culprits to book. It goes without mention that the ministry of information declared publicly that it is unable to control the kind of information that is exchanged on social media especially Facebook and Twitter that have more than 2 million active users countrywide with number on the increase daily.

Even though the amount of hate being spewed is expected to drop significantly after the conclusion of political activities, the government together with other stakeholders like the media and CCK need to develop a strategy on how to curb the vice in future. Kenyans too need to uphold their moralities and respect the rule of law.