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East Africa: Media Freedom - Tanzania, Kenya On the Spot
East African, 12 May 2018
The Committee to Protect Journalists has put a spotlight on Kenya and Tanzania over their treatment of the media in the past few months. Read more »
The Committee to Protect Journalists and 64 civil society groups from around the world want the Tanzania and Kenya governments to address the deteriorating environment for media, human rights defenders and opposition party members in the respective countries. The groups are urging Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta not to sign into law the Cybercrimes Bill that was passed by parliament in April 2018.
Journalists in Nairobi take part in a demonstration to protests against gag on press freedoms. (file photo).
Opposition parties have said that in a government crackdown on suspected militant groups, 380 people were abducted and disappeared in 2017 in unlawful campaigns characterised by human-rights violations, including torture and extrajudicial killings. Suleiman Bungara of the Civic United Front said 10 people in his constituency were picked up from a mosque by police and some had not resurfaced, while others returned with their ears chopped off and their beards burnt.
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President John Magafuli has enforced laws and regulations to govern both digital and traditional media spaces in the country since he took office in 2015. Under his leadership, a number of opposition members have been arrested or jailed, and some people have been detained for "insulting" him. Bloggers, as well as Tanzanians operating online radio and television streaming services, are also required to apply for a license and pay an annual fee of over U.S.$900 before they can publish any
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The group of columnists who resigned from the Nation Media Group over what they called interference with media freedom by the State, has released a joint statement accusing the government of meddling with NMG's objectivity. The columnists listed several incidents in recent years, including the firing of a managing editor who was critical of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the decision not to renew the contract of popular political cartoonist Gado. They said government's increasing influence
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Activists, together with the Kenya Union of Journalists, have threatened to sue the government following the closure of three major TV stations namely NTV, KTN News and Citizen for the live broadcast of the "swearing-in" of opposition National Super Alliance leader, Raila Odinga, as the people's president.
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