Strasbourg, 16/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption on Thursday 15 January of a resolution on freedom of the press in Kenya, the European Parliament deplores the fact that President Kibaki signed a bill on communications that are potentially detrimental to the right of expression and freedom of the press. Sections 88 and 46 are particularly problematic. Section 88 gives considerable power to the Ministry of Information to raid media houses that are deemed to be a threat to national security and to dismantle their broadcasting equipments. Section 46 gives the state the power to regulate contents to be aired and published by electronic and print media respectively.
Although Kenyan President Kibaki neglected to take widely reported reservations into account at the time of signing the bill, MEPs are pleased to note that he has announced his intention to take into consideration the amendments to the legislation proposed by the media. They thus call on the Kenyan government to initiate stakeholder consultations in order to reach a consensus on how to better regulate the communications industry without interfering with press freedom. MEPs go on to stress the need to address Kenya's culture of impunity, so that those responsible for the violence after elections one year ago may be brought to justice, including through the setting in place of an independent commission of legal experts that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga have in theory agreed to establish. (A.B./transl.jl).