[kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Kenya communications (amendment) Bill: Is media overacting?
alice
alice at apc.org
Sun Dec 14 12:34:34 EAT 2008
Hi Eric and all,
I can relate to some aspects of what you are saying here . As a Kenyan
citizen it’s like being squeezed between a rock and a very very hard
place. The irony of it all is really painful to watch and experience. On
one hand we have members of parliament who have lost and continue to
lose integrity and on the other the media whose role in the post
election conflict leaves one with a horrible taste in the mouth and
sense of foreboding if this bill is thrown out.
What does a Kenyan do when some law makers refuse to pay taxes, are
implicated in post election conflict, in various scandals including the
recent maize meals prizes, etc. What does one do when the same media
that claims to publish/broadcast the truth takes sides in politics with
terrible consequences?
The Kenya communications amendment bill is a good bill that should have
been enacted five years ago and yes indeed there were consultations at
various levels and for a long period of time with various stakeholders.
Further, similar to the Kenya ICT policy 2006, the media did not pay
attention or even bother to be part of the process of developing it
despite the policy window offered and provided for by the government. I
also suspect that they (media) have not really looked/read this bill
carefully, but are forcibly mobilising people and using civil society
voices for their own interest in their attempt to gain public support.
They have not bothered to educate the public on the entire bill; rather
they continue to pick a couple of clauses omitting the important aspects
of this bill.
But on the other hand, and sadly, having observed our MP's conduct you
would be forgiven if you wondered whether they should be making of any
laws, having lost so much credibility.
(Views expressed here are personal and not a reflection of any of the
institutions I am affiliated with)
best
alice
Eric M.K Osiakwan wrote:
> The democratic system requires parliament to be a counter balance to
> the powers of the executive and the judiciary autonomous enough to be
> a middle ground.
>
> In the school of parliamentary process, the people submit their will
> by electing one person to represent them and that person is not to do
> his own bidding but that of the people. Hence there is resources for
> the parliamentarian to be in constant touch with the people as a
> channel. Now the parlimanetary process also has it's own inbult
> mechansim of cross-checking the effort of the parliamentarian so it
> makes efforts through committees and "special groups" on subjects to
> reach the people, this is coupled with the fact that one can make
> submissions through these committee or "special groups".
>
> Unfortunately, the self serving interest of the parliamentary
> representative has grown to the extent they dont even consult the
> people anymore. Ideally, every parliamentarian is suppose to go to his
> or her constituency with this bill and consult extensively so they
> present what the peoples' will and determination is. I see a big
> failure of that. I also see a big failure of the committee's effort to
> let the people understand why there is a clause with that expectation.
>
> Now given the failure, people resort to the institution of the media
> which to a large extent is the fourth estate and in this case, the
> interest of that institution is at stake, what else do you expect? I
> think at the root of this is the decandence that has eaten into our
> democratic establishment and it is important we deal with the root.
>
> It is more interesting in the context of Kenya at this time in history
> because you have a "coalition government" which means there is "no
> true opposition" to balance the forces that be, hence the media
> becomes a critical institution and to some extent, rises to the "3rd
> estate" in a manner of speaking so you shoot yourself in the foot when
> you try to enact such clauses in a legislation.
>
> In my view the inability of the electoral process to produce a clear
> and viable opposition means, the state institutions have lost some
> level of credibility and we stand at a tipping point where issues like
> "forcing some parts of this bill through" can undo all the
> transitional gains that has being made.
>
> Folks, lets be careful and take a cue from what is happening in Greece.
>
> Eric here
>
>
> On 13 Dec 2008, at 18:36, Brian Longwe wrote:
>
>>
>> I too, feel that this is overreaction and misrepresentation by the
>> media. How many of the very vocal media personalities who appeared
>> protesting have even read the proposed legislation? If they did, they
>> would see that the powers granted are only applicable during a state
>> of emergency. Other laws set out the process and conditions by which
>> a state of emergency can be called.
>>
>> Our experiences with the post-election crisis this year exposed how
>> partisan and instrumental media can be to fuel discontent and in many
>> cases, media related information was used to take lives.
>>
>> Have the more responsible media houses forgotten so quickly the
>> regret and guilt they expressed, when they started crying out for
>> peace - after they realised how seriously wrong their transmissions
>> were taken by the public?
>>
>> It is true that when Govt invited stakeholders to make
>> representations regarding the bill, the media houses that bothered to
>> send personnel sent only very junior officials - there's no knowing
>> what kind of feedback/representations these underlings took back to
>> their bosses.
>>
>> How many media houses sent representations to the house committee
>> that was responsible for the bill when they were invited to do so? To
>> what extent did they engage with informed contributions, proposed
>> modifications or even proposed text to replace the offending sections?
>>
>> People need to realise that things like this don't happen overnight,
>> law-making is a process that provides any citizen with the right and
>> the opportunity to make their views felt and known. The masses that
>> have been mobilised by the media houses should have been in Mombasa
>> when govt, the house committee and stakeholders were meeting to among
>> other things look at sections of the Kenya communications amendment
>> act - not now, when their elected representatives have yielded to the
>> due process and submitted the bill to the President.
>>
>> my two-pence,
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> On 12/13/08, *Grace Bomu* <nmutungu at gmail.com
>> <mailto:nmutungu at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> I had signed up for the mars group protest yesterday on the
>> representation that it was a protest on food prices and MP'S refusal
>> to pay taxes.
>> I am disgusted that the media have used our voices for their causes
>> exclusively, disregarding ours.
>> As a Kenyan, i think there should be a review on cross-ownership of
>> media if democracy is to thrive. Also, considering the role of the
>> media in fueling ethnic/ regional backlash since 2003, isn't there
>> need for a check on them?
>> There may be misgivings on the arbitraly powers conferred to the
>> Minister in charge of security but media has to be checked.
>> The media should give suggestions on alternative ways to check them
>> instead of using all their airtime and acres of newspapers to win
>> public sympathy.
>> Finally, they should stop branding it ' media bill' as the bill
>> is not
>> a conspiracy against media but a bill to amend the communications
>> act.
>>
>> --
>> Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com
>> <http://mobile.google.com>
>>
>> Grace L.N. Mutung'u
>> +254721898732
>> +254736091242
>> Kenya
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Brian Munyao Longwe
>> e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com <mailto:blongwe at gmail.com>
>> cell: + 254 722 518 744
>> blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
>> meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com
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>
> Eric M.K Osiakwan
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> Internet Research
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