World press chiefs are gathering in Nairobi, Kenya, for a conference next week amid growing criticism of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s government for alleged deterioration in media freedom.
The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) kicks off its annual three-day general assembly in Nairobi on Sunday as media watchdogs decry what they say are serious setbacks in the state of affairs.
One focus of the IPI meeting to be addressed by Kibaki will be faltering press freedom in Africa, currently a hot-button issue in Kenya where a series of recent incidents has underscored concerns on that matter.
”It is vital that governments resist the temptation to interfere with the media,” the IPI said recently. ”The overwhelming problem in Africa is the refusal of governments to allow journalists to operate freely and independently.”
Earlier this month, Kibaki’s wife made international headlines by storming the newsroom of one of the country’s leading media companies to deliver an emotional anti-media tirade against allegedly biased coverage.
The outburst from often-controversial First Lady Lucy Kibaki, during which she was reported to have hit a television cameraman, prompted domestic outrage and demands for an apology from Paris-based Reporters sans Frontièeres (RSF).
After the siege, she filed a formal grievance with the Kenyan Media Council, but her complaint was overshadowed when the government quashed the cameraman’s assault case against the first lady.
”President Kibaki should realise this battle with the privately owned media of the past weeks will only lead to an even worse situation,” RSF warned this week, describing Kibaki’s relationship with the press as ”dire”.
While some allow that press freedom has improved since Kibaki took power from former president Daniel arap Moi in 2003, critics say the incident involving the first lady is indicative of a potentially alarming trend.
Despite the absence of physical torture and imprisonment for unfavourable reporting, common practice in the Moi era, RSF said the pattern of recent incidents is troubling and raises concerns about Kenyan democracy in general.
”The mounting threats, harassment and attacks against the press are not only a very bad example for Kenyan society, but also the sign of something beginning to go awry with the country’s democracy,” it said ahead of the IPI conference.
Even before the Lucy Kibaki incident, which occurred on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, watchdogs had taken note of problems in Kenya.
In late April, the leading human rights group Freedom House demoted Kenya on its annual global press freedom scorecard from ”partly free” to ”not free”, one of only two countries (the other was Pakistan) to earn the dubious distinction.
The United States-based group cited a clampdown on the tabloid press, including arrests of journalists and seizures of newspapers, and harassment of media outlets that reported allegations of government graft as reasons for the demotion.
Kenya’s grade had been elevated to ”partly free” only the year before and Freedom House said the example was ”a reminder that gains made in press freedom can be easily and quickly reversed”.
In addition to Kibaki, Rwandan President Paul Kagame is to address the IPI conference expected to be attended by at least 300 delegates from 41 countries.
Kagame’s country also recently attracted the ire of press freedom watchdogs when a Rwandan court handed down a one-year suspended jail term and a heavy fine to a journalist accused of defaming a senior official.
RSF and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists both said the punishment was disproportionate and a sign of continuing harassment of independent media in Rwanda. — Sapa-AFP