Kenya Union of Journalists Rejects Draconian Directives By Media Council Aimed At Muzzling Scribes Voices

Journalists protesting against uncouth media laws

The Union body of Kenya journalists has come out fiercely condemning the latest directives by the media council aimed at snoozing the vocal voices of journalists online and restraining them from having a political saying.

The media council which insiders say is puppeted by the executive have out stern warning in an induced address to journalists against making open their political positions and being ‘unnecessarily noisy’ on social media. The body went ahead to advise meds houses to take disciplinary actions against such journos. These developments were instigated by the uncompromised trio of Mohammed Ali, Dennis Onsarigo and James Smart who are perceived to be government critics and continuously attack the system on social media.

KUJ Sec-Gen Eric Oduor while rejecting the conditions by the Media Council guidelines on journalists with political interests saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously by journalists. He maintains they are illegal guidelines that suppress freedom of expression. In other countries journalists are usually affiliated to political ideologies. The Media Council Council of Kenya should come up with a framework that will allow journalists as professionals to take a stand on political issues to deal with the confusion it is trying to address rather than resorting to gagging.

“We must avoid Kanu style of addressing problems in the industry. Civil servants are given a period to leave office to start campaigns. What about journalists? Is it one year? two years? One week?”, Eric Oduor, KUJ Sec-Gen.