From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2013

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Jubilee coalition government have made up their minds that his memorandum on the media Bill remains, whether journalists drawn from all media houses hit the streets to oppose it.

David Ohito, the vice-chairman Editor’s Guild and a long time friend of mine says they are going on the street because they were not satisfied by the move to place the memorandum before the Parliament for debate and adoption without involving all stakeholders, sighting mischief by the Government.

Journalists are wondering how can individual journalist pay Sh500,000 and the media houses part with Sh20 million. Threat by media to move to court to challenge the constitutionality of the Bill is not going to help much either.

Ohito says they will present their own memorandum before the Parliament during the protest. But even so, this won’t help either since the speaker of the national assembly is jubilee slot and in many occasions has been seen siding with Jubilees’ agenda, particularly removing Kenya from Rome Statute to save Uhuru and his deputy Ruto from attending the cases against them.

Ohito is also challenging Uhuru to take personal responsibility about the whole issue and allow for media freedom. No matter how much Uhuru would be willing to do so, his hands are tied since he cannot act independently from his Jubilee mandate.

Uhuru cannot take personal responsibility that is why his effort to defend Land, Urban Development and Housing Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has been challenged. Jubilee coalition members are plotting to get rid of her.

Some of the things Jubilee government would not like media to report is current silent rebellion against Deputy President William Ruto, which is slowly building up in the Rift Valley with some MPs being critical of what they say is Ruto’s soft stance on matters of national importance.

TNA particularly would not like to see media reporting that URP MPs are especially irked that Ruto has remained complacent even as plum state jobs are being distributed to one half of the Jubilee government.

The disharmony is not only limited to MPs but some of Ruto’s close associates have expressed their concerns that his erstwhile political protégé, Joshua Kutuny was appointed as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s political advisor without any consultation or notice and now being used by TNA pro Uhuru instead of Nancy and Mutahi Ngunyi.

The recent statement by Kutuny and which did not please URP legislators is when he was used to issue statement that no one coached ICC witnesses to fix Ruto. This has not gone very well with URP members.

Kuttuny robustly defended uhur against these allegations and urged the leaders to desist from making statements on the ongoing ICC cases at the International Criminal Court.

Politicians don’t work like professionals. That is also why Attorney General, Githu Muigai and the Cabinet Sectary for Communication, Fred Matiangi have been left out in darkness about the clauses in the memorandum.

The same fear of media also emerged during the Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta when he fell out with his political ally, Tom Mboya in 1960s. Media was seen as a threat to Kenyatta’s government when Kenyatta and Mboya rivalry led to the formation of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu).

Cotu was mooted by the Kenyatta administration ostensibly to neutralise Mboya’s influence in the country’s trade union movement. Trouble started in 1962 when Mboya threatened to leave Kanu.

Kenyatta feared that if Mboya used the Kenya Federation of Labour as a party, an economic strategy, which favoured capital rather than labour, would give his critics further ammunition to fight his government.

The same thing happened after Jaramogi Odinga Odinga formed an opposition party, Kenya Peoples Union (KPU). Radical trade union leaders, who supported Odinga were suspended from Cotu. Media was not allowed to report this.

Moi was even particular. He banned some sections of media several times when it emerged that they reported his brutal action of detentions and political trials, torture, arbitrary arrests and police brutality.

Moi always perceived human rights generally as alien and Euro centric conceptions inconsistent with African values and culture. That is why he always tried to ban civil organizations.

Journalists who reported things against his government were taken to Nyayo torture chamber. Moi’s actions were meant to silence journalists and the intelligent, perceived to be critical of his authoritarian rule.

In 1986 alone, 100 people were arrested and detained for their alleged association with Mwakenya, the movement started by some Kenyans in Europe who had fled Moi’s oppression regime.

Politicians who were vocal were ruthlessly killed. Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Robert Ouko, was assassinated in February 1990. Clergymen, lawyers, and other pro-democracy and human rights advocates were persistently arrested and harassed, or even killed.

In the build-up to the 1992 to 1997 elections were met with police beatings. Any journalist who reported this incident was put into task. Opposition members who refused to vote KANU and Moi had their houses burnt, property looted or killed.

Judges who made rulings in favor of human rights victims exposed themselves to punitive transfers or sacked.

Mwaki Kibaki’s regime was not different either- He tough with media when they reported that campaigners and critics condemned the reappointment of retired Justice Aaron Ringera as anti-corruption director.

Kibaki’s regime reappointed Ringera because he was cheap to be tamed. Campaigners were against his appointment because he failed to fight corruption, not to realize that this was the type of person Kibaki government wanted.

The same Ringera has been appointed by President Uhuru to lead the team which is to probe the activities of JSC. This is despite the fact that Ringera is not fit to head the team of tribunal since at one point when he applied to be a judge of the Supreme Court he was not short listed.

Ringera was appointed chair of the tribunal whose other members are Jeniffer Shamalla, my friend Ambrose Weda and Mutua Kilaka. Apart from Weda, the LSK chairman Erick Mutua explained that Shamalla had also come out in the media directly critisising the JSC.

At one point, Jennifer Shamalla has not only come out on national TV to say that the JSC does not know what it is doing but also criticized the honorable Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga.

At the end of 2005 President Kibaki appointed him director when he had failed to respond to the Anglo-Leasing dossier as the public demanded. Ringera was set for cover-up. He never released the copy to John Githongo who was then the Secretary to Ethics and Corruption.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002