Well....my take Our history of independence can be traced and evaluated on the basis of the struggles for freedom of the media and the treatment of media professionals. If you all recall, the struggle for more democratic political environment, also contributed to the growth of alternative press and an increase in confidence in our mainstream media to publish more objectively. What is extremely disturbing about this incident is the fact that there is still no single law regulating media in Kenya. Only the Constitution, and a range of Acts. Most of the acts were inherited from the colonial government, and still provide for tight government control on information and mass media. As a result the media suffers an ever-present threat of being censored or stifled should the political establishment or individuals within it feel uncomfortable or threatened. What happened yesterday was the old state repression rearing its head using public security and sedition as an excuse to engage in crude activities, including arresting, detaining, harassing, etc persons producing and disseminating information that was critical or embarrassing to government. Granted that the media MUST exercise their freedom with responsibility, but there exits internationally accepted mechanisms for seeking redress through the law, including our Kenya Telecommunication Act, which clearly spells out the procedures to be followed under similar circumstances. alice ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Longwe" <brian@pure-id.com> To: <alice@apc.org> Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 3:46 PM Subject: Re: [Kictanet] Re: Burning and Closure of Standard Media Group
I'm afraid on this one I agree with Wainaina - if it weren't for the irresponsible reporting there wouldn't have been opportunity (or excuse) for this kind of "retaliation"
Having said that, though, I think that this is going to provide our government (which is currently undergoing some very pleasing reforms) an opportunity to really curtail and/or limit police actions.
The incident yesternight raises several fundamental questions: 1) did the police have a court order to enter premises? 2) had they requested (and been denied) access to the premises? 3) Did they have a court order to confiscate any equipment? 4) Did they have authority to use force?
I would be very interested to see an estimate from the Standard Media Group in terms of business loss - considering the $$$$ they charge for advertising, both on air and print.... would be even more interesting to see who their lawyers decide to hold responsible and send the bill to...
I hope they don't back down and actually mount a full frontal to get to the bottom of this...
There are definitely some people somewhere who need to answer...
Brian
On 2 Mar 2006, at 15:15, Sidarec wrote:
Wainana talks as if it was only barbaric to do such things as is happening now under Moi. Now that it is Kibaki, Media has become irresponsible, and should be burnished. We kenyans tend to forget yesteryears when the country was under siege. What is happening to me today, it does not matter what tribe it is happening to, every kenyans should stand up to be counted. Today it is me tommorrow it is YOU. If I don't raise my voice because it is not touching me, tommorrow it will be you, and God knows how it will end. We must stand up and be counted at this hour of need. This is an affront to our way of life; We fought for this freedom, and it was not gioven to us free, many people died for this course,and this government was elected on that premise; to uphold the rule of law; it is not about Standard Newspaper of the KNT, it is about Kenyans on asault.
George
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