House team wants agency given powers to ban newspapers

Energy, Communication and Information committee Chairman Jamleck Kamau. PHOTO/ FILE

What you need to know:

  • MPs want the power to determine who sits on the council done through a parliamentary vetting process that analysts say would likely make the appointees beholden to politicians.
  • The present Media Council is a self-regulatory body primarily charged with adjudicating complaints against journalists and publishers relating to their professional code of conduct.

A parliamentary committee has proposed new laws that would give the Media Council powers to ban newspapers and punish readers found with banned publications.

The proposal comes just days after Parliament voted for a Bill introducing measures to gag the media.

The proposed amendments to the Media Council of Kenya Bill also seek to introduce sweeping powers to ban publications for ambiguous reasons couched in the Bill as national interest, public order, morality and threat to security.

Cartoons would also come under scrutiny under the new proposals.

They come in the wake of a controversy between the government and the media over the coverage of the Westgate Mall attack and especially the publication of footage of Kenya Defence Forces officers looting shops there.

MPs want the power to determine who sits on the council done through a parliamentary vetting process that analysts say would likely make the appointees beholden to politicians.

The Energy, Information and Communications Committee chaired by Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau has suggested the new rules in amendments to be made to the Media Council of Kenya Bill at the Third Reading.

In the amendments, the committee wants the media watchdog to be given powers to license the publication of newspapers and terminate or suspend their permits.

It is proposed that the Media Council also exercise the power to grant permits to print, publish and circulate newspapers.

Similarly, anyone found printing, selling or circulating a paper whose permit has been revoked or terminated would be committing an offence and could be jailed for up to two years or fined up to Sh10 million or both upon conviction.

The amendments also seek to punish readers of such banned newspapers with anyone found in possession of such publications to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two months or fined up to Sh10,000, or both.

DEEM PREJUDICIAL

The committee further proposes withdrawal of a the permit of any publication whose content the council may deem “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, public interest or national interest.”

“The Council, if satisfied, may, by order published in the Gazette, withdraw the licence to print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, issue, circulate, distribute or possession of that publication and future publications of the publisher concerned,” reads the proposals.

The present Media Council is a self-regulatory body primarily charged with adjudicating complaints against journalists and publishers relating to their professional code of conduct.

It is funded by the government but maintains its independence through a self-governing complaints commission and an appointment process controlled by the media industry.

Yesterday, the council said it was not aware of the proposals.

Council chairman Joseph Odindo said the watchdog’s main mandate is to arbitrate on issues raised in the code of conduct for journalists and that power to grant permits is outside its authority.

“The council does not ban media houses or suspend journalists, and it has never desired to do so,” Mr Odindo said.

He added that provisions to deal with reports or articles considered prejudicial to public order, morality, security or those considered likely to alarm public opinion should be left to the law and not a council or a tribunal.

The House committee has also proposed changes to the manner in which the selection panel that will interview applicants for positions in the Media Council will process their final decisions.

The panel shall be required to select three people qualified for the position of chairman and six others as members and forward their names to the Cabinet secretary.

Within seven days, the minister shall forward the name of one person as chairman and the six as members for vetting by the National Assembly. If the MPs are satisfied with the nominees, they shall notify the Cabinet secretary, who will then appoint the nominees.

This development comes barely two days after Parliament came up with a Media Bill considered very repressive.

STATE CONTROLLED

The passage of the Kenya Information and Media Bill shifted the adjudication of complaints against media from the Media Council to a new government controlled agency with power to ban journalists from practising and to impose fines of up to Sh20 million on media houses that breach the code of conduct.

The media industry and lawyers have pointed out that the new Bill, which now awaits presidential approval or rejection, is not in conformity with the Constitution.

The head of legal services at Nation Media Group, Sekou Owino, said the two Bills undermined the constitutional requirement of a free media.

“Article 34 of the Constitution is clear that the State shall not control or interfere with any media establishment. The article adds that any regulatory body with authority over the broadcasting and electronic media shall be independent of control by government or any commercial or political interest,” he said.

The Media Council Bill is scheduled for the Second Reading on Tuesday where MPs will discuss possible changes while relying on the report of the committee tabled in the House on Tuesday.

The actual amendments would be made at the Third Reading where MPs vote on each clause of the proposed law while inserting any changes proposed either by the committee or individuals.

The committee seeks to create an opportunity for politicians to be appointed to media regulatory bodies by proposing a deletion of the provision that someone who “has at any time within the preceding five years, held a political office” would be ineligible for appointment as a chairperson or member of the Media Council.

“The committee is of the opinion politicians should also be considered as professionals who can give leadership in any public body, commission or council,” the committee says.

It has also proposed a minor amendment of a part of the proposed law to differentiate between the two Houses of Parliament and to make the Council’s finances known to the public through the National Assembly.

The media has been critical of sections of the Media Council Bill that empower the Cabinet secretary to dissolve the current council, declare vacancies and then select the panel to interview candidates.