Uhuru will reject media Bill, says key adviser

President Kenyatta will not sign into law the controversial Bill that seeks to give government control of the media, a top presidential adviser revealed Monday.

Instead, the President will send the Bill back to Parliament because some of its clauses violate the Constitution, Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the adviser on constitutional matters, said.

“From a purely constitutional point of view, the President cannot assent to the Bill because it violates some sections of the Constitution,” Mr Mohammed said.

He became the second senior government official to give the assurance that the President would reject the dictatorial Bill which, among other things, seeks to give a government-appointed body the power to impose rules on the media, lock journalists out of the profession and auction the property of both individuals and their employers should they fail to pay the hefty fines prescribed in the Bill.

The Constitution prohibits the government from enacting laws which interfere with the freedom of the press.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last Friday, Deputy President William Ruto said President Kenyatta will send the Bill back to Parliament to have the offending clauses deleted.

“We admit the Bill is contentious. Discussions are under way to resolve issues,” Mr Ruto told a gathering of editors, who attended the African Media Leaders Forum, the largest industry gathering of the continent’s media professionals.

“The President has undertaken to refer the Bill back to Parliament so that these matters can be ironed out,” he said.

The national assembly passed the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill in strange circumstances two weeks ago. MPs, after a long series of negotiations with the industry, threw out a lot of the input by industry players and instead hurriedly passed the Bill with amendments which undermine press freedom and endanger democracy.

Mr Kenyatta can send the Bill back to Parliament for amendment, although a two-third majority decision in Parliament can override his objections.

Mr Ruto said the country had the most robust Bill of Rights, and that everything would be done to protect it. “Repression in Kenya is simply not possible,” he said, adding, the relationship between the government and the media need not be adversarial.

Mr Ruto had earlier that day been scheduled to meet officials of the Media Council of Kenya, the Kenya Union of Journalists, the Kenya Editors Guild and the Kenya Correspondents Association to discuss the controversial clauses, but had to call off the meeting to travel to Ethiopia for the conference where he represented Mr Kenyatta.

The Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution has said several clauses in the Bill are unconstitutional. Articles 33(1) and 34 (1 and 2) of the Constitution safeguard media freedom and the dissemination of information.

“We are of the opinion that the Bill contains provisions which are unconstitutional, and if enacted in its current state, will inadvertently erode the gains made in the Constitution to ensure freedom of the media,” CIC chairman Charles Nyachae said last week.

Meanwhile, a veteran journalist yesterday urged the Media Council of Kenya to file a constitutional interpretation at the Supreme Court seeking determination on the inconsistencies raised by the new law in regard to freedoms as enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Mr Joe Kadhi, who teaches journalism at the United States International University, said freedom of the press must be protected at all costs as it determines a country’s democratic space.

Mr Kadhi spoke in Machakos during a one-week training course for journalists on devolution. He also advised journalists to stick to professional ethics and ensure they report objectively.