Stung by failure to successfully push through their agenda in the National Assembly, the Cord coalition members have made a sudden turn-around and pushed for journalists to be allowed to back toParliament’s Media Centre.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi
But even as the debate rages, the Senate leadership is seeking to entrench the media at its temporary Chamber at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).
Journalists were kicked out of the Media Centre inParliament a month ago, and the two offices converted to Committee rooms following a directive from Speaker Justin Muturi and Clerk to the National Assembly Justin Bundi.
Deputy Leader of the Minority Jakoyo Midiwo was instrumental in pushing for the ejection of the media from the centre during a meeting of the House Business Committee (HBC). But Midiwo led Cord MPs recently in demanding the reinstatement of the MediaCentre in public interest to enable journalists to conduct their business with ease.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also weighed in, saying denying journalists access to the centre goes against the tenets of democracy. During his first visit toParliament after the March 4 General Election, Raila said he had taken up the matter with the Speaker.
“It is a retrogressive development to kick the media out of Parliament. They belong here and the centre was set up to enable them access information,” said Raila.
Mr Midiwo and Ababu Namwamba (Budalang’i) said they would push for the journalists to be allowed back to the centre. “I want to tell the leadership ofParliament that it should not take us back to the dark ages and they should know that this is not somebody’s house,” said Mr Midiwo.
Reversing gains
He claimed that there were efforts to reverse the gains made in expanding democratic space inParliament during the tenure of former Speaker Kenneth Marende.
Mr Midiwo’s position was in sharp contrast to his earlier assertion that the decision to kick out the media was final and would not be reviewed “anytime soon”. “MPs cannot continue meeting in a dining room, while journalists sit comfortable in a hall…that cannot happen. Journalists should not forget that they are not part of Parliament as this is a House of order,” Mr Midiwo said at the time.
But Mr Namwamba, Nyatike MP Omondi Anyanga and Suba MP John Mbadi are of the view that the media must be domiciled in Parliament and that confining journalists to the Press Gallery where they cannot go take with them their laptops was unacceptable. Said Mr Mbadi: “My position has been and will remain that the media must be entrenched in Parliament and whoever is working against that from. Cord or Jubilee is an enemy of democracy,” Mr Mbadi told The Standard On Sunday.
He said that as much as he does not always agree with the position taken by media on some matters, it was necessary for Parliament to open up to scrutiny in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
Said Mr Namwamba: “This is classic case of intolerance by a Government that does not respect the liberties of the people and the freedom of the media as provided for in the new constitution”.
Mr Anyanga said Parliament was an institution that was expected to promote media freedom.
“The media must be domiciled in Parliament like happens in other democracies across the world. It is important that we find a way of working with the media for the good of society,” said Mr Anyanga.
By Vitalis Kimutai, The Standard
