Gagging journalists is very undemocratic, it must stop

The traditional European concept of the three estates of the realm; the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners arose when the beleaguered King Louis XVI was facing an imminent revolution in the 1780s.

An angry mob of peasants and the bourgeois was demanding political change and wanted the King to summon Parliament which was to be comprised of the already mentioned three estates.

Writer and journalist Edmund Burke, while reporting from the English Parliament, observed thus: "The French King called them the three estates. The representatives of people in political power. But here we stand, men and women of the press, the fourth estate. The most important of them all!" and since those nascent days of democracy, the press has grown in bounds to be the most important voice of the poor and downtrodden.

In Kenya, the press has been the major pillar of democracy since the country attained independence five decades ago.

Backed by the Constitution, and the formidable will of fearless newspapermen, a strong foundation of the press has been built in Kenya.

However, recent court cases by the State trying to gag the media have been disturbing. Of late, the Government, through several agencies under it, has taken an extremely antagonistic stand against the press.

Executive authority is not the only entity to adopt this belligerent stand. A few weeks ago in Parliament, after leading dailies had exposed an extravagant trip to the US by MPs, one that was to cost the taxpayer millions, the legislators went out hammer and tongs after the media.

They had vowed to have journalists gagged from covering parliamentary sessions. It took loud protests from the civil society, and tough reminders that the media has a legal right to cover Parliament, for the MPs to be back down.

This belligerence has sometimes turned violent. Journalists have been attacked and injured by goons known to have been sponsored by those in power. Jane Mugambi, a Standard Group journalist, was assaulted by Lamu nominated MCA Monica Njambi while covering the Lamu assembly.

These kind of physical attacks and the use of courts to gag the media have to stop.

The press is the greatest champion of nationalism and social equality. It must be respected.