Assault on media freedom must be stopped

Kenyans and their international friends should be concerned about the emerging Kenyan state.

Constitutional democracy is not just in regression; it is under severe threat.

A worrying trend has emerged whereby Parliament, specifically the National Assembly, has become increasingly willing to enact laws that impinge upon the basic rights and freedoms essential to the operation of a constitutional democratic state.

The National Assembly’s core constitutional mandate is to oversee and legislate on matters concerning the national government.

Unfortunately, it has transformed itself into a puppet of the Executive.

It has become the Executive’s tool for attacking county governments while defending the national government’s grand official corruption.

Kenya will remain trapped in cycles of political turmoil because the Executive and the Legislature are deliberately sabotaging the actualisation of the Constitution.

Both the National Assembly and the Executive consider the public’s views to be irrelevant.

In the eyes of Kenyans, the National Assembly has lost legitimacy and become an enabler and facilitator of the return of the imperial presidency and presidential impunity.

DEVALUING FREEDOMS

The freedoms of the individual are increasingly diminishing and becoming devalued.

Yet these freedoms underpin the principles of democracy and cannot be taken for granted.

Within a week, the National Assembly has passed two horrendous Bills: The Parliamentary Society Bill that seeks to make taxpayers support former members of Parliament who lose an election and the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges (Amendment) Bill that seeks to criminalise the free press, freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to information.

The MPs seem to forget that the National Assembly and its operations are subject to the Constitution.

The National Assembly lacks respect for democratic rights and freedoms and is unwilling to preserve and uphold constitutional values.

There is no secret that the Jubilee regime is determined to reverse the constitutional freedoms and civil liberties that Kenyans fought so hard for.

And the National Assembly is its platform to consolidate power.

The National Assembly has been doing the Executive’s bidding in utter contempt of the Constitution.

This regime considers a free and open society and press freedom to be the biggest threats to the status quo.

RISE UP

It has engineered a multitude of small but lethal attacks on the Constitution that have left crucial institutions and the media compromised and open to destruction.

While trying to silence outspoken critics, the government also wants to slowly co-opt media outlets through public tender offerings and business deals.

A free media and strong civil society constantly keeps politicians accountable.

History has repeatedly shown that governments that silence dissent are likely to commit grave mistakes simply because there is no one to tell them that they are headed in the wrong direction.

Only a kleptocracy would be interested in silencing public views and opinions.

Civil society, the media, the Senate, and the Judiciary must rise up to defend the Constitution and deter the National Assembly and the government from returning the country to authoritarianism.