Lobbies pile up pressure on police Bill

A parliamentary committee was Monday under pressure to remove or amend parts of the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill seen as infringing on the basic rights of Kenyans as enshrined in the Constitution.

Journalists, media owners, lawyers, a state human rights watchdog and NGOs warned that if the Bill was passed as it was, the matter would end up in the courts. Last year a similar thing happened to two media Bills passed by the National Assembly.

Addressing the National Assembly’s Administration and National Security Committee, the Media Council of Kenya termed some of the proposals in the Bill as offensive to the freedom of expression and an affront to media freedom.

“While we acknowledge that national security concerns are a strong justification for tightening our security-related laws, some of the provisions in the proposed Bill are offensive,” said the council in a statement read by its chairman, Mr Peter Wakoli.

The statement represented the views of the Media Owners Association, Editors’ Guild, Kenya Union of Journalists and the Kenya Correspondents Association.

INSTILLING FEAR
Those who signed the statement included Mr Wakoli, Mr Sam Shollei (chairman, Media Owners Association), Mr Samuel Maina (vice-chairman, Editors Guild), Mr Erick Oduor (acting secretary-general, Kenya Union of Journalists) and  Mr William Janak (chairman, Kenya Correspondents Association). Also present was Nation Media Group CEO Linus Gitahi.

Mr Shollei told the committee that the media supported the war on terrorism.

“If we allow terrorists to limit our liberty, then they will have won as their agenda is to instil fear and terrorise us,” said Mr Shollei, but warned that the media would be left with no option but to go to court if Parliament ignored their concerns.

The statement read: “We join the government and all Kenyans in rejecting terrorism in all its forms. However, it is our considered conviction that the situation cannot be dealt with  by introducing extreme measures, such as enacting legislation that erodes the gains made towards upholding a democratic state and safeguarded in the Constitution,” they said.

“We also take this opportunity to further remind His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta of his occasional and unreserved promise to Kenyans to protect media freedom and freedom of expression,” they added.

DRAFTED IN A HURRY

Mr Wakoli said the group had prepared a memorandum on the controversial Bill to be presented to the National Assembly.

At County Hall, Nairobi, yesterday, which was the last day of public hearings on the Bill, Constitutional Law Expert Yash Pal Ghai, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and rights activists asked the National Assembly to take more time before passing the Bill.

They told the parliamentary committee that the Bill appeared to have been drafted in a hurry and its passage would violate the Constitution.

They warned that if passed unchanged, its opponents would challenge it in the Constitutional Division of the High Court and delay its implementation.

The media and human rights organisations spent more than two hours with the parliamentary committee, which is chaired by Tiaty MP Asman Kamama, pointing out more than 20 clauses they held to be in breach of the Constitution.

“A colleague told me this morning that when we are making any law, let us make it with the devil in mind. Let us look as the devil as the ultimate person that may occupy the seat of power at one time, so that what we make does not come to haunt us one time,” said Mr George Morara, a member of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

Prof Ghai said it appeared the Bill was drafted in a rush and without a proper understanding of the security situation in the country.

“This Bill will undoubtedly have the effect of creating more conflict,” said the scholar, who once chaired the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, now defunct.

Ms Jedidah Wakonyo, a commissioner at the KNCHR, said some clauses of the proposed law affected access to justice and eroded the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty. It would also legalise round-ups and arbitrary arrests.

“The Bill presupposes that we are in a continuous state of emergency, a continuous state of war,” she said, arguing that the root of the insecurity facing Kenya was indiscipline in security agencies and their lack of funding.

Mr Kamama said the committee would meet tomorrow to consider the piles of memoranda received from the public and interested parties and draft a report and amendments ahead of the special sitting on Thursday, when the Bill is scheduled for the Third Reading.

“We’ll take your presentations and memoranda very seriously. You’ll see this reflected in the Bill when it comes to Parliament,” promised Mr Kamama.