Draconian anti-terror bill will not end insecurity, police reforms will, say experts

Media stakeholders in Kenya are a worried lot again. For the second time in less than 12 months, the industry is staring at laws which are aimed at gagging the Press from informing the public about critical happenings in Kenya.

This time round, the drafters of the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill have sneaked in clauses that will simply strangle media and erode freedom of the press. The bill was published on December 10 and was not made easily accessible to the public.

Just like the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill 2013, the framers of the proposed law are targeting media houses, and journalists have been put on the line because they always tell the world the truth of what has happened and more importantly where the State action has been wanting in security lapses.

Experts say if the bill becomes law, the first casualty will be human rights and fundamental freedoms including media and devolution.

The democratic space is under threat and signs of despotism are alive. Lately, there has been increasing intolerance to strong Opposition, a robust civil society and independent media which are democratic pillars.

The authors of the document signed by the National Assembly departmental committee on Administration and National Security Chairman Asman Kamama were very clear in clawing away democratic gains.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, Article 19, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Katiba Institute, Independent Medico-Legal Unit,  Creco and Uhai have raised queries with breaches to the express provisions of article 118 (b) of the Constitution.

Parliament has not facilitated meaningful and effective engagement of the public with the bill.

Clause 15 of the bill provides that it is an offence to publish or cause to be published or distributed obscene, gory or offensive material which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the general public or disturb public peace.

Limited participation

The offence created is a felony and if committed by an individual the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh1 million and imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, the proposed law continues.

For such an offence, a media enterprise will be fined Sh5 million.

"The tight timelines given by the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security for making submissions combined with the difficulty in accessing the bill limited public participation in the process," said Article 19 Director Henry Maina.

Mr Maina argues that the proposed changes are not minor.

"They are momentous and seek to amend the Bill of Rights through the back door. Accordingly, any changes to the Bill of Rights require a referendum as per Article 255. The proposed Security Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014 makes major amendments to at least 22 laws and impact on several others including the laws relating to County Governments," he said.

"Kenya will never manage to achieve its considerable potential without an honest, efficient, accountable policing and criminal justice system. The problem is not the deficit of laws. It is lack of political will to implement constitutionally sanctioned police and other security sector reforms, said Wainaina Ndung'u of the International Centre for Policy and Conflict.

"Rather than bringing the totalitarian laws, the Government should have put in place solid mechanisms of fully implementing the Kenyans' sanctioned constitutional road map of restructuring and reforming national police service," Wainaina said.

There have been many security and law enforcement reforms' recommendations but little progress on their implementation.