Uhuru Kenyatta, PaulKagame criticised overlack of media freedom

[Kabaridi]

CAPE TOWN
President Uhuru Kenyatta has
been named at a world congress
on media for signing into law
legislation giving the State avenues
to decide what journalists report.
Similar attention was given to
President Paul Kagame for limiting
media freedom and called on him
to allow independent journalists to
work freely.
The criticisms came during the
official opening of the
International Press Institute's (IPI)
43rd world congress in Cape
Town, South Africa on Sunday.
In her formal report to the
congress on the state of press
freedom worldwide, IPI executive
director Alison Bethel McKenzie
told delegates of increasing attacks
on journalists.
"Kenya is another concern.
President Kenyatta has signed
legislation ... the Information and
Communication Act ... that we
believe would lead to state control
of news and information during
emergencies, plus give the
government the power to perform
functions currently executed by
the country's Media Council."
She said IPI had protested the new
measures by the Kenya
government and acknowledged
that local journalists had moved to
the courts to fight for their
freedom.
"Kenyan journalists are not about
to have their rights trampled on.
They’ve filed legal challenges
against the Information and
Communication Act on the
grounds that it is
unconstitutional," Ms McKenzie
said.
On Rwanda, the IPI boss said as
the world marks the 20th
anniversary of the genocide, even
though some local media played a
"terrible role in fanning ethnic
hatred in 1994", reasonable space
must be curved for free
expression.
"While there is no defence for
such hate speech, we are
concerned that the Rwandan
authorities use that experience to
maintain tight control over today’s
news media and call on the
government to allow independent
media to flourish."
Globally, Turkey was identified as
one of the worst countries for
press freedom and the world's
leading jailer of journalists with 44
currently behind bars.
"Media owners’ economic
dependence on government
connections continues to stifle
reporting in Turkey, as did the
reported attacks by police on
dozens of journalists as they
covered protests that erupted last
year following the brutal
treatment of demonstrators
opposing the demolition of Gezi
Park in Istanbul," she said.
IPI tracked 119 journalists killed in
the line of duty in 2013, a slight
decline from the 133 who died in
2012. So far in 2014, more than 20
have either been killed while on
the job or died while on duty.

mobile.nation.co.ke/news/Uhuru-Kenyatta-Paul-Kagame-World-Congress-Cape-Town/-/1950946/2278062/-/format/xhtml/-/13n8ifg/-/index.html

 

[Koborer]

Uhuru should have signed that media bill. It portrayed him negatively.

 

[ordo-mundo]

information can be used negatively or positively to shape the country's political climate, there must be checks and balances to prevent negative abuses of the media freedom by media and civil society groups and social media

 

[jMali]

information can be used negatively or positively to shape the country's political climate, there must be checks and balances to prevent negative abuses of the media freedom by media and civil society groups and social media

the checks should not include torture, extrajudicial killings, assasinations, intimidation, kidnappings etc as the case is for Rwanda, otherwise we might be inclined to think that news that the gov claims is "negative" is actually the truth!

 

[ex rebel]

what do you mean truth? we have not found the truth on wildlife plundering especially in tz and Kenya, poaching elephants and rhinos in tz and has reached alarming levels and we do not know the truth. tunaambiwa hii yote ni kazi ya alshabaab. there is no truth anywhere because it is stranger to uphold it. do not deceive yourself there is "truth". while am not in anyway supporting alshabaab imekuwa sababu ya kila majanga afrika mashariki. hata the greatest tz expositor geza had nothing to do this crime despite having the serengeti the largest wildlife ecosystem in africa and tsavo national parks.

 

[jMali]

what do you mean truth? we have not found the truth on wildlife plundering especially in tz and Kenya, poaching elephants and rhinos in tz and has reached alarming levels and we do not know the truth. tunaambiwa hii yote ni kazi ya alshabaab. there is no truth anywhere because it is stranger to uphold it. do not deceive yourself there is "truth". while am not in anyway supporting alshabaab imekuwa sababu ya kila majanga afrika mashariki. hata the greatest tz expositor geza had nothing to do this crime despite having the serengeti the largest wildlife ecosystem in africa and tsavo national parks.

lets not digress, the issue here is media freedom in kenya and Rwanda how did we get to poaching in Tanzania?

 

[Koborer]

lets not digress, the issue here is media freedom in kenya and Rwanda how did we get to poaching in Tanzania?

Correct, this guy is being irrelevant here.

 

[jMali]

Correct, this guy is being irrelevant here.

some people are on a mission to tarnish the names of other countries to divert attention from theirs. Look at how their IDs were created on the same day, have the same number of posts etc...i suspect a "@RichardGoldston" strategy at work.

 

[ordo-mundo]

media freedom of late has been misinterpreted but to be given power the requisite needed is responsibility unless freelance journalists, unlicensed intelligence vendors and gutter press are doing the bidding. Africa and especially kenya is a good student when it comes to adopting foreign "proffessinalism" has its moment to exercise real democracy, these are the few challenges that aspiring african democracies will face going foward.

Africa should seize this opportunity to express its own image to the world and not fall for old wives fables about how rich minerals it owns makes its countries have "potential for growth" which has been the report for decades. the same potential is destroyed knowing that a dictatorship is given aid for "reforms" when the same western countries may facilitate civil war in one unfriendly part of the continent and praise another dictator in another corner.

for africa to succeed it must curve its own destiny, report its own stories and not what someone at Beverley feels is good for the circumstances facing the continent.

the international perceptions of Africa outside Europe and americas is hunger diseases (HIV) corrupt governments, a song which is stuck on airwaves. any flagship projects driven locally are reported to be tainted with corruption allegations, populists claiming ownership of projects. at this rate Africa will lag behind and fail to achieve their goals. millennium development goals has remained a theory for african governments installed by western governments to source for merger aid packages to fund business entities in neighboring countries.

thank God for China, African countries can now dream big and dream to move forward with generous aid and loans.

historically African infrastructures have been of great interest to the chinese. in Tanzania the great Tazara railway is to be maintained and extended by the Chinese, with the exception of the kenya-Uganda railway that was build during colonial era, espoused and represented a colonial character. Kenya is embarking on landmark flagship projects having successfully undertaken and completed some revolutionary infrastructure projects including roads, ports and airports modernization, with many more earmarked under the vision 2030 blueprint among them being the "controversial standard gauge railway" funded and earmarked for completion in 2016 by china.

it is of interest that the Chinese and the Tanzanian governments have entered a deal to construct what will be the "biggest" port in africa off the coast of bagamoyo. Oil and gas explorers along rough and offshore terrain in kenya have promised the finds viable offering economic hope to the local communities. what does this convey to the more "traditional partners" amidst certain kenyan professionals and activists on the frontline backing western foreign policy on record explaining impending hurdles for the country if it attempts to shun away traditional partners to seek an elaborate partner from the east. they explain of a multiplicity of international hurdles, from the ICC, economic sanctions, blacklisting of local exports to foreign markets and airstrikes.

The issue at hand is quite clear as the west focused on Kenya they forgot about the rest of Africa. A website owned by an American news agency (fox) was particularly more clear in its report that historically Kenya is the first country to ever move and rally huge support from the continent (AU). While there are successes to be celebrated on Kenyan foreign policy, the same can't be said on the domestic political front. A discordant and out of focus opposition has a hard time of settling and accepting the new government.

the successful management of earmarked projects proves that africa and indeed Kenya will achieve growth if they handle and route out their own destiny. The country has adopted reforms on top institutions and devolution which was initially well thought out by planners to address key national economic challenges. Though it is facing challenges, the citizens have appreciated. infact, no country in the current world that excercises devolved government would not face similar challenges. it is worthy to remember the united states coming out world war ii faced similar unrests in their federal systems of government while governing the state of south Carolina.