![]() Macharia was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department for interrogation and then taken to court, where he was charged with using a radio communication apparatus that violated his license. The police confiscated all the equipment. ![]() Citizen was ordered off the air and forbidden from broadcasting. However, Macharia moved one transmitter to his home in a Nairobi suburb and another to his offices in downtown Nairobi, which violated the terms of his broadcasting license and the rules of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) governing transmitters. Macharia, the proprietor of Royal Media Services (RMS), which owns both stations, was arrested and charged with establishing and using radio communication equipment in violation of his broadcast license and the Kenya Communications Act of 1998.Ĭitizen FM’s license permitted the station to erect television and radio transmitters in Limuru, on the outskirts of Nairobi. Police officers stormed the Nairobi offices of Citizen FM and Citizen TV, destroying and vandalizing property, including broadcasting equipment. Politicians and even members of the judiciary used these allegations to justify both the draconian media bill and exorbitant libel awards against the mainstream media. There were allegations that some editors of these publications routinely extorted money from politicians in exchange for keeping their names out of the magazines. The country’s increasingly popular leisure publications, locally referred to as the “gutter press,” caused consternation among the country’s elite by publishing sensational, sex-filled articles about well-known personalities. Although some took this to mean that the bill had been shelved, Wako indicated that he would re-introduce it when Parliament reconvened in March, but invited media owners, journalists and the Kenya Union of Journalists to comment on the bill. It was unclear whether this clause would require newspapers to submit copies to the registrar prior to publication.Īttorney General Amos Wako failed to attend Parliament on December 5, when he was due to move the bill, and still had not presented it before the House’s Christmas recess on December 13. Offenders would risk a fine of 20,000 shillings (US$254), a maximum of six months jail, or both. Repeat offenders could be jailed for five years and banned permanently from publishing.Ī disturbing new provision would make it an offense to sell or distribute any book or newspaper without first depositing a copy with the Registrar of Societies. As in the previous year’s bill, publishers that failed to post this bond would face fines totaling 1 million shillings (US$ 12,722), a three-year jail sentence, or both. The bill, a revised and harsher version of a bill that was introduced and then shelved last year, sought to increase the publisher’s bond one hundred-fold, from the current 10,000 shillings (US$ 127) to 1 million shillings (US$ 12,722). In October, the government announced controversial proposed amendments to the Book and Newspaper Act and the Film and Stage Plays Act. As of year’s end, all these cases remained in court. A few days later, Moi’s son also sued the Daily Nation for libel and successfully blocked the paper from publishing any stories about him until the libel case was heard. Moi and Biwott also sued a local bookstore chain, which was forced to remove the books from its shelves. Kenya’s largest and most influential independent newspaper, The Daily Nation, announced plans to serialize the book, but Biwott was granted an injunction on August 21 that forbade the paper from publishing any excerpts until the case was heard. ambassador to Kenya, Smith Hempstone, alleging that he had portrayed them as murderers in a 1997 memoir called The Rogue Ambassador. ![]() In July, President Moi and senior cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott filed a lawsuit against former U.S. ![]() The judiciary responded by awarding record libel damages, introducing bankruptcy as a possible tool to silence critical media. Continuing a trend that began in 2000, high-ranking politicians and legislators–led by President Daniel arap Moi–brought several libel and defamation suits against the press last year. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |