All that Kenyans demand is their favourite TV stations back on air

What you need to know:

  • Kenyans just want their TV stations back and a rising number are increasingly convinced, whether true or not, that the Jubilee government is denying them their rights.
  • With the feeling that Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and CA Director-General Francis Wangusi are protecting specific interests, some of it foreign, it is comical to watch these two gentlemen behave as though someone in the three major media houses has stolen their goats.
  • What is undeniable is that the media were totally consumed with concerns about the ramifications of Section 12 of the Act, which directly infringed on media freedom.

This has not been a happy week for the government on many fronts, and unless it seeks ways to remedy the situation without losing face, the negative perceptions against it are not likely to change for the better in the near future.

First, regardless of the merits of its arguments, the government appears intent on silencing free media through a series of intransigent actions that are making it look bad. This may not be true, but perception can be as effective as reality.

Kenyans don’t care whether the Information and Technology ministry is solely to blame for the two-week closure of the three top television stations in Kenya. It is equally futile to blame the Communications Authority of Kenya, an appendage of the ministry punching above its weight, for whatever has transpired. And they don’t care either whether owners of the media houses are to blame for not switching from analogue to digital transmission.

Kenyans just want their TV stations back and a rising number are increasingly convinced, whether true or not, that the Jubilee government is denying them their rights. Now, that is not good public relations for the government and someone had better correct the impression, lest the backlash turn into a political whiplash.

For a start, both President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto, have maintained a studious silence on the matter despite weeks of sustained public outcry. Trust the masses to arrive at the wrong answers if they are suffering and they cannot understand why.

MEDIA BULLIES

Why shouldn’t they suspect that something sinister is going on? Is this whole brouhaha really worth losing votes for? I don’t know, but certainly, the government is getting a sound beating in the world press and is in danger of joining the list of intolerant bullies against the independent media in Africa, which include the regimes ruling countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Zimbabwe. These self-inflicted blows could have been easily avoided.

A great deal of finger-pointing has been going on, some of it tragi-comical. With the feeling that Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and CA Director-General Francis Wangusi are protecting specific interests, some of it foreign, it is comical to watch these two gentlemen behave as though someone in the three major media houses has stolen their goats.

The tragedy is that with all the thrust and counter-thrust of argument between the two gentlemen and the media, nobody has really explained how a government can grant control of the bulk of broadcast frequencies to a foreign entity, then try to force the independent media houses to cede control of their own content to these same foreigners.

The second defeat the government suffered was this week’s High Court ruling that eight provisions of the Security Laws (Amendment) Act 2014, passed by a bunch of brawlers in Parliament last December, are unconstitutional. I am no lawyer, and, therefore, won’t delve into the finer nuances of the matter, but the fact that this law was fought tooth and nail by the media was perhaps one of the causes of the acrimony over the digital migration.

MEDIA FREEDOM

What is undeniable is that the media were totally consumed with concerns about the ramifications of Section 12 of the Act, which directly infringed on media freedom.

This is not the first time the government has tried to criminalise media practices as a way to control them. It won’t be the last either, for governments and the media world over have never been comfortable bedfellows.

However, it is not prudent to appear to wage unreasonable wars against the media. There are no two ways about it; either suppress the public right to access information in this information age using Gestapo tactics and risk becoming a pariah among nations, or give the media free rein, within reason, and in that way allow democracy to flourish.

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This morning, a very close relative of this columnist will exchange marriage vows with a young lady he has been dating for seven years. Well, what can the couple’s doting parents, hearts bursting with filial pride, say but to wish Erick Ngwiri and Nyasie Odindo a happy wedding and a happier marriage!