The makeup of the Kenyan Media Council has received a radical recommendation from Attorney General Justin Muturi.
The AG has suggested that to ensure the council’s independence. Media professionals should not be allowed to chair or serve on the board.
According to him, MCK should be independent during its tenure and remain free from governmental, political, and sectoral interests.
The AG further cautioned against allowing state employees and employees of media associations to serve on the MCK board.
“That a public officer is precluded from seeking membership to either the chairperson or member of the media council under section 7(1) of the Act,” he said.
He claimed that the fact that the individuals mentioned are board members jeopardizes the council’s ability to control the media.
“That having an interest in a media house for whatever reason which might cause a potential conflict of interest situation in the functioning of the Media Council precludes a person from being the Chairperson or Member of the Council,” the AG’s letter read.
This happened hours after the petition successfully got court orders suspending the hiring while the Employment and Labour Relations Court heard and decided a case.
In his seven-page letter to ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo, Muturi requested the MCK board selection panel, which was presided over by Emmanuel Juma, to revise the entire process.
“Make an independent assessment of the objectivity and impartiality of all persons seeking to be either chairperson or member of the council, and where an interest is demonstrated which amounts to a conflict of interest situation in the functioning of the council, then the person is not eligible to be considered for membership in the council unless the person ceases to hold such an interest,” the AG said.
The AG further confirmed that public employees are not permitted to be hired as MCK chairpersons or board members.
For the position of chairperson, a shortlist of seven candidates was created.
They consist of former Chairperson Joseph Muiruri, Head of the Kenya Editors Guild Churchill Otieno, and Director of Communications for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Tabitha Mutemi.
Erick Oduor, the secretary general of the Kenya Union of Journalists, Peter Mutie, the director of marketing and communication for the Kenya Revenue Authority Kennedy Onyonyi, and lecturer Susan Karago, a board member, are also on the shortlist.
Additionally, the petitioner claims that Emmanuel Juma, the chairman of the Selection Panel, falsely claims to speak for the Media Owners Association (MoA), even though he is not a member of the organization and was previously employed by the Nation Media Group, which made the nomination.
He also confronts Macharia Gaitho, a writer who represents the Kenya Editors Guild and was once employed by NMG, regarding his place on the selection committee.
He also questioned Dr. Jane Wambui Thuo’s appointment to the recruitment panel, noting that she works full-time at the University of Nairobi and claims to speak for all public colleges. Still, not all public universities that provide journalism nominated her.
The petitioner claimed that Dr. Kinya Mwitha, also on the recruitment panel, was chosen by the Dean at Daystar University rather than by all Private Universities as required by law.
