NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 2 – Media stakeholders have urged the government to respect media rights after claims of a possible plan to shut broadcasts and the internet ahead of Monday’s planned anti-government protests.
Kenya Editors Guild President Churchill Otieno warned that such a move would “be a grievous assault on Kenya’s democracy”.
“The government should not do anything that denies free flow of information to the public,” he said.
The stakeholders’ statement comes at a time when top government officials led by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have been leading an assault on the media.
Gachagua has in particular taken issues with the media over its live coverage of the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition protests and accused journalists of supporting Raild Odinga
Otieno however reminded the media critics that members of the fourth estate have “a democratic duty to bring such information to the public”.
The profiling of media and journalists, Otieno said was an attack on democracy and bears serious consequences.
Both police and demonstrators have attacked close to 20 journalists since the start of the Azimio protests on March 20, 2023.
“Article 34 (2)of the Kenyan Constitution makes it clear that the State shall not interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, production, or circulation of any publication or dissemination of information by any medium, or penalize any person for any opinion or view or the content of any broadcast or publication,” Otieno said.
He also called upon the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome to bring to book the perpetrators who have attacked journalists.
Executive Director Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) Patience Nyage asked the government to compensate journalists who have been harmed including paying for their medical treatment and replacing damaged or lost equipment.
“Failure to which media houses should consider blacking out government events,” she said.
