Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
7 January 2008
Nairobi — The ODM believes the contentious Kenya Communications Act is part of a hidden agenda by some PNU hardliners to retain power in 2012.
Three senior ODM Ministers told the Nairobi Star yesterday that the Act, which has shaken the stability of the Coalition government, was intended to put pressure on the media. FM and TV stations will have to be friendlier towards those in control of the Communication Commission of Kenya as they will operate under the fear of having their licenses withdrawn if they were deemed to be causing disaffection among the public.
"We know that there are people in this government who think if they take control of the media and the Electoral Commission of Kenya then they will be able to declare themselves winners in 2012,"said Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang.
The minister said some people in the PNU coalition were hell-bent on controlling the electoral system because they were afraid they could not win in a fair election.
Yesterday two senior ODM members said the Media Bill was the only piece of legislation prepared by the 17-man PNU and ODM-K Cabinet before the Coalition government was established in March and therefore it was wrong for the President to ignore concerns raised by their party leader.
They linked the ICT Act to the struggle by Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura to control the restructuring of the Electoral Commission of Kenya despite Cabinet accepting the Kriegler Commission's proposal that it should be completely disbanded.
The ODM leaders also queried the reasons for the appointment of President Kibaki's long-term friend and political adviser Professor Nick Wanjohi as State House Comptroller last week.
Some PNU coalition leaders who have either declared their interest in the Presidency or are widely believed to be interested in succeeding President Kibaki are Vice President and ODM-K leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Uhuru Kenyatta and Justice Minister and Narc-Kenya chairperson Martha Karua.
PNU chairman George Saitoti is also understood to be positioning himself to succeed President Kibaki when he retires after serving his two terms.
"We will fight this ICT Act until it is amended because one of the reasons why Ghana's new President Prof Atta Mills won with a very narrow margin was because of a vibrant media which we want to protect here in Kenya. We are even beginning to think that getting a new constitution may be difficult because this same group of people is already showing signs that it is not interested," stated the Mbita MP Kajwang.
Prime Minister Raila has summoned all his party MPS and members of the National Executive Committee to an urgent meeting to discuss the state of affairs in government and decide the way forward.
The ODM leader called the meeting after President Kibaki signed into law the Kenya Communications Bill last Friday despite Raila having assured the media and the country that the Bill would be returned to Parliament for amendment.
Tomorrow's Cabinet meeting is likely to be a stormy one, said ODM ministers, as they intend to debate amendments to the Media Act.
The Nairobi Star has also established that Raila made several calls to persuade President Mwai Kibaki not to sign the ICT Bill into law, just hours before the Presidential Press Service announced that it had been signed.
The conversation ended without any consensus when Kibaki insisted he was going ahead to sign the Bill into law as he had not seen anything wrong with it.
The President then telephoned Raila just before he put pen onto paper from State House Mombasa where he had arrived on December 21 for Christmas and New Year festivities.
Raila was seen pacing up and down as he talked with Kibaki while staying at Leisure Lodge on the South Coast with his family.
"There was an unusual movement with Raila around his Leisure Lodge suite while talking on his cell phone which raised concerned among his security detail," the sources said.
"After the end of the cell phone conversation with Kibaki, his mood drastically changed," the source said.
Yesterday, Isiah Kabira, Director of the Presidential Press Service, could neither confirm nor deny the telephone conversations over the Media Bill.
"They are always talking, they speak on a daily basis so how do I know the content of their talk unless I ask them," he said.
On Saturday President Kibaki travelled 40-kilometres to Leisure Lodge where, according to the PPS, he and Raila had a one-hour long scheduled meeting.
Raila had already left the beach resort when Kibaki arrived at 1 pm to spend the day there with his sons and their families. The President was just leaving at about 7pm when he and Raila met and talked for about ten minutes. The PPS then sent out photos showing Raila dangling the Kibaki's grandson Mwai Jr on his knee.
According to the PPS, the meeting was scheduled in advance but the two "talked about the New Year, nothing specific".
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Whatever the reasons spare has the crap. When the bill was being debated where were they? The did not see it for all the months it stayed in the house? Why did they not propose any ammendments which they are championing now? Kenyas should be the most gullible people on this world.
The ODM seems to prefer a form of government which has an open house policy where cats can seat on the same table with mice, lions party and dance with gazelles, robbers strategise robbery with those to be robbed, spies discuss spying mission with those to be spied, murderers inform their victims in advance, etc. In short, a govt with no secrets. By extension, a government where the media would be free to do anything under the sun including encouraging men to rape their infants and rape own mothers!
Kenyan media would rather the coalition government collapses with the possible accompanying mayhem than they lose their jobs, yet the same media applauded when ECK lost their jobs despite the fact that politicians benefited from ECK shortcomings. Kenyan media had their shortcoming too-they rigged the Elections by being shamelessly partisan and erecting an alternative ''KCC'' somewhere. Not ECK! Those "bought" journalists who helped pluge this country to bloodshed deserve to lose their jobs too. This not withstanding, Kenyans deserve a responsible media that respects the right of individuals to preserve common decency. As things stand… [Read Full Text]
Soon we are going to overtake the west on Divorce cases. The youth of this country have been brainwashed by the media that they have no decency. There are some actions which i can not do because my soul can not allow me to do them but the media has detroyed all the self sensorship human beings were given by God. If being obscene and vulgur in the name of freedom is the in thing, let me become a slave.
Active Discussions: Ministers Blame Govt Hardliners for Media Law