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January 3, 2009.

REVOKE THE DRACONIAN MEDIA BILL

Just like millions of Kenyans, Civil society, Church groups and other stake holders, Mapambano Online was outraged at the signing of the media bill by President Mwai Kibaki whom, despite having rigged elections last December to install himself secretly as President, is increasingly assuming draconian and dictatorial powers as he continues to misrule the country under the Coalition government.

Through the signing of the controversial Media bill into law last Friday and against protests by millions of Kenyans, the Coalition government has demonstrated that it is determined to drive Kenya’s democratization process backwards and to roll back the gains of struggle in the last four decades.
With the signing of the Bill, the Press has effectively been muzzled by the government which will now be able to storm Media Houses to demand to know the content of news before broadcast, attack or burn Newspapers at will, control what Kenyans can be told through the media, arrest journalists perceived to be “violating the law” in relation to the Media Bill, control the free flow of information, withdraw broadcasting and Newspaper licenses, give the Minister of Internal security powers to act arbitrarily in cases of perceived violations and, above all, subject millions of Kenyans to possible arrests because of draconian conditions contained in the Media Bill.

The signing of the bill by President Mwai Kibaki is a sign that Kenyans were right in voting out the Kibaki dictatorship before the President and members of the Mount Kenya Mafia stole the vote to return to power.
The view of Mapambano Online is that Kenyans should resist this Bill through continued protests, statements to the media and other actions possible in the situation because the Bill violates fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kenyan people which are enshrined in the Constitution especially the right to freedom of information.

Media Houses across the country should not relent in the struggle against this Bill even though it has been signed into law by the President who has failed to respond to several concerns by Kenyans and stake holders alike to the effect that the draconian Bill is retrogressive and should be abandoned.
Kibaki is effectively taking Kenya back to the days of the Moi dictatorship and the question which has to be asked is why he is doing so after rigging elections and plunging the country into deep crisis which resulted in thousands of deaths of innocent Kenyans, destruction of billions worth of property and creation of 350,000 Internal refugees.

Mapambano Online believes that by signing the bill into law, President Mwai Kibaki and a clique of loyalists around him still trying to wield power through the back door are living under illusions that they can get away with anything.

The signing of the Bill by Kibaki should be used by all progressive forces inside and outside Kenya to send strong signals to Kibaki and company that Kenya does not belong to a tiny group of wealth grabbers who believe that they can do anything and get away in the name of governance. We urge both the Kenyan people and the Media to disobey provisions in the bill because the bill violates the Constitution.

Mapambano Online will continue to remain vocal especially on the question of the controversial bill because it is illegal and designed to intimidate both the Media and the Kenyan people into submission as the country’s wealth is plundered by wealth grabbers surrounding Kibaki. The Kenyan people should not relent until this illegal bill is defeated because Kenya does not belong to a tiny group of people who appear to be behind the bill and who are driven by greed and narrow self interests that has seen them push the bill since its inception.

Mapambano Editorial Board