Journalists vow to press for freedom

“We have studied closely the statement released by the President explaining his decision. It amounts to nothing more than an exercise in duplicity and evasion,” Mr Gaitho said in a statement. 

He said a detailed memorandum outlining the objectionable clauses had been presented to the President, yet his statement only referred to Section 88.

Open to abuse

“Our point has been that such a dangerous clause should not have been retained with the updated legislation, but removed altogether or at least modified so that it is not open to abuse by politicians as was witnessed with the outrageous invasion on the Standard Group or with the illegal ban on live broadcasts,” the editors said.

“The rest of President Kibaki’s statement contains not a single response to numerous other clauses identified by the industry as dangerous to the operations of a free media.”