[kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Kenya communications (amendment) Bill: Is media overacting?

Mon Dec 15 21:01:29 EAT 2008

The meeting advertised was for "media" only. Is there any way to include
more of the population into such discussions in the future? I would love to
feel free to attend.

Asante.

Crystal

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 8:42 PM, Brian Longwe <blongwe at gmail.com> wrote:

> Pole sana Crystal - the House Committee meeting with Media was advertised
> for 3 days in the local dailies....
>
> Brian
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 6:35 PM, Crystal Watley <
> crystal at voicesofafrica.org> wrote:
>
>> Brian,
>>
>> The meeting was not made public knowledge. If it had been then possibly
>> more would have attended. Myself included.
>>
>> The Communications Bill contains many well thought out policies that will
>> benefit Kenya in its quest to become an leader in information and
>> communications technology in the region. I read the bill when it came out in
>> its first draft form and twice more during the consultation and amendment
>> period. The bill is still not ready to be passed into law. As it is a
>> serious piece of legislature it needs more discussion especially in open
>> public forums. Once the general public and the media take an issue with a
>> piece of legislation it should be tabled and discussed until necessary
>> revisions are made. I would like to reiterate this bill is not ready to be
>> passed into law. If it is I would encourage the media institutions to
>> challenge its legality in court. It has already been rejected in the court
>> of public opinion.
>>
>> If what Dr. Ndemo and others say about the ability of the president to
>> amend the act, although Kibaki is in a catch 22, he should see that the
>> media stays free. What Kenyans should be afraid of is giving the government
>> the power to decide on what dictates a "state of emergency". This has been
>> used in other countries to suppress the masses and give all control to a few
>> powerful individuals. The control of the many by the few is something we
>> already see in Kenya. Information and communications technologies are to
>> improve INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS. The proliferation of Kenyan content
>> cannot be stilfed by the law or many will shy away from their use due to
>> fear.
>>
>> Crystal
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 6:36 PM, Brian Longwe <blongwe at gmail.com> 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> 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
>>>>
>>>> Grace L.N. Mutung'u
>>>> +254721898732
>>>> +254736091242
>>>>   Kenya
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> ke-internetusers mailing list
>>>> ke-internetusers at bdix.net
>>>> http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Brian Munyao Longwe
>>> e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com
>>> cell:  + 254 722 518 744
>>> blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
>>> meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Crystal "Naliaka" Watley
>> Voices of Africa
>> crystal at voicesofafrica.org
>> http://www.voicesofafrica.org/
>>
>> "You must be the change you wish to see" - Gandhi
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Brian Munyao Longwe
> e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com
> cell:  + 254 722 518 744
> blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
> meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com
>

-- 
Crystal "Naliaka" Watley
Voices of Africa
crystal at voicesofafrica.org
http://www.voicesofafrica.org/

"You must be the change you wish to see" - Gandhi
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