FortySouth

So it’s now official – the Kenyan Government will indeed push for the repealing of contentious sections contained in the Kenya Communications Act 1998, most notably a number of clauses in Section 88.

So what are they looking to amend?

1. Deletion of Section 88, which gives the Internal Security Minister authority to “take temporary possession of any telecommunication apparatus or any radio communication station or apparatus within Kenya”
2. Establishment of a Broadcasting Service Advisory Board which will deal with issues of content and registration of the stations
3. Expand the Appeals Tribunal, established under Section 102, from five to seven members to allow for the appointment of two other people in consultation with the media industry stakeholders

On the Media Act 2007, the government agreed to fund the Media Council, the Board constituted by the Act for regulation of the media. (The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill passed in December 2008 has erroneously been referred to as the Media Bill even by though we had a Media Bill in 2007, now it’s an Act of Parliament).

Once Parliament reconvenes, the AG says that the motion will be tabled. The amendment when presented will likely, pass with little or no filibustering.

This is a first step, hopefully the political will doesn’t peter out.

So the Attorney General Amos Wako emerges from the shadows on the issue of the Kenya Communications Amendment Act 2008 to say that the document with comments from the media through the Media Owners Association, is now ready for discussion, with a meeting possibly late in the week.

Curiously, this seemed only to follow prompting from MOA and The Standard Group after they complained of the lopsided communication between them and the Government as they marked the anniversary of the infamous State-sanctioned raid.

So what can we expect to come of such a meeting? I dare say – not that much. Probably some sandbagging by Government since the effort is now losing political steam. The media will need to keep up the pressure to maintain this issue as front page headlines.

Of course with the Act, a couple of Clauses do need to be reexamined (my thoughts on what should be amended).

The Attorney-General met the Media Owner’s Association on Tuesday to receive proposals on finding the way forward on the disputed sections in the Communications (Amendment) Act 2008.

The verbiage of the memorandum is not clear, since it’s not (yet) in the public domain but these are the proposals from reports:

• Suspend or delete Section 88 from the Kenya Communications Act 1998 (the principal Act)
• Upon amending the content of Section 88, move it either to the Media Act 2007 or present it as an entirely new Bill
• Explicitly guarantee “freedom of the press” in the Constitution

The AG notes that the Amendment Act commenced on January 2nd and also Section 88 cannot be suspended pending any amendments. Nor can the Act be amended by Miscellaneous Amendments since it’s a major law.

I think that some of the regulatory functions stipulated in Part IVA of the Communications Amendment Act should be transferred to the Media Council, perhaps through an amendment of the Media Act 2007. Licensing should be regulated by the CCK, while content and programming would be handled by the Media Council.

Aspects relating to media freedoms would have been addressed in the Freedom of Information Bill 2007, including the right to information, disclosure and whistle-blower protection. Unfortunately the Bill did not make it past the 1st Reading according to Parliament’s 2007 Bill tracker.

It will be interesting to see what direction this process will follow in the coming weeks.