Kenya Correspondents Association (KCA) has launched a series of Media Round Table forums to sensitize journalists on their rights and safety across different regions in Kenya ahead of the August 2017 General Elections.
The first of the media forums was held on Monday July 11, 2016 in Machakos County, and brought together 25 journalists drawn from different media outlets.
Two other forums will be held in Mombasa and Nakuru within July while more are planned for other regions of the country in the coming months.
KCA has launched the initiative with support from the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi.
“The sensitization forums are meant to help bridge the information gap among the journalists on their rights and the need for basic safety and security awareness at work, given the increasing patterns of conflicts in many parts of the country which continue to pose risks to them,” says KCA Chairman, William Janak.
Janak said the sensitization also includes creating awareness among journalists on the policy and legal advocacy initiatives in the media sector, and other emerging challenges facing journalists as the country moves towards the General Elections in August next year.
"There have been increasing threats to media freedom in the country with rural based correspondents being particularly vulnerable to harassment, intimidation and threats from powerful actors within the government, security agencies, and politicians in the regions," said Janak.
He said according to surveys and monitoring by KCA and other media advocacy groups, there have been increasing threats, attacks and intimidation of journalists over the last three years, including the passage of laws which threaten the constitutionally guaranteed press freedom and impede journalists in their work.
Jnak said according to a new publication by UNESCO, “Supporting Safety of Journalists in Kenya”, an assessment based on UNESCO’s Journalists Safety Indicators, more than 60 journalists, seven of them women, have been attacked, harassed and intimidated in the course of their work over the last one year.
He said in April 2015, a journalist, John Kituyi, was killed in Eldoret, Western Kenya in the course of duty, creating more fear of the possibility of targeted attacks on journalists.
"Over the last three years, a number of punitive laws have been enacted by the National Assembly, providing for heavy fines for journalists and media outlets, which have induced fear and censorship," said Janak.
Janak said there have also been increasing cases of sacking of journalists by media houses, adding to the already poor working conditions for the journalists, most of them correspondents.
"The challenge of increased political and ethnic polarization of the country and perceptions of increasing media biases, also threaten to not only undermine the credibility of the media in general but may put the lives of journalists in danger as was the case during the General Election of 2007 and the Post-Election Violence which followed."
"Through the forums, KCA seeks to build the capacity and momentum among the grassroots-based journalists to effectively handle the challenges and participate on advocacy and lobbying within the media industry and with the government and other actors to guarantee their safety and security, and in the process, help secure press freedom," said the Chairman.
Janak said KCA is also partnering with IREX, a US safety and security training organization with offices in Nairobi to sensitize the journalists on their safety and security.