Kenya: KCA joins the Media Fraternity in Marking World Press Freedom Day

By Lilian Museka

NAIROBI---The Kenya Correspondents Association (KCA) today joins the Kenyan media fraternity and journalists world wide in marking this year's World Press Freedom Day with a call for greater respect for journalists’ rights and press freedom, including guarantees on safety and security of journalists.

 In Kenya, the World Press Freedom Day is being marked in Nairobi at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, as part of a three day East Africa Journalists Convention organized by the Media Council of Kenya(MCK).

 KCA notes with concern that as the country moves towards the next General Elections, journalists are increasingly under threat from politicians, the business class, organized criminal gangs and militias and also the police.

 "We need to remember on this important day, the unresolved murder of Journalist Francis Kahinda Nyaruri about three years ago in Kisii in Western Kenya and the increasing cases of journalists under threat from competing political interests related to the cases pending before the International Criminal Court at The Hague," said KCA Chairman William Oloo Janak.

 A number of journalists based in the Rift Valley Province, which was the epicentre of the Post Election Violence continue to be under threat and some have had to seek refuge outside their work stations due to fear for their lives. Other journalists in different parts of the country are equally under various degrees of threat with at least four having been threatened, intimidated or actually assaulted by security personnel.

"As we approach the next General Elections, the pressure and threat to the media generally and to journalists in particular, will increase. We therefore call on media organizations, indeed the entire industry and the state to ensure the gains made in creating an environment of greater media freedom is protected and the rights and safety and security of journalists are guaranteed, " added Janak.

KCA also calls on media enterprises to respect the labour rights of journalists by paying decent wages to journalists and creating the necessary structures that will facilitate better coverage of the elections and promotion of honest dialogue among the citizens and the leadership of this country.

Efforts must be made to invest heavily on the facilitation of journalists to cover all parts of the country and offer diverse platforms for all the competing forces within the country in this election year.

 The association also calls on the journalists to eschew short term gains and inducements that could compromise their ethical and professional integrity and independence for the sake of honest transformation of the society.