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| Deputy President William Ruto |
Deputy President William Ruto has hinted that President Uhuru Kenyatta
will not assent to the controversial Information and Communications
Amendment Bill.
Ruto has said that the president will refer the media bill back to Parliament for MPs to amend the contentious clauses.
The
deputy president was speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the
Africa Media Leaders Forum where he was representing the president.
The
bill that was passed by the National Assembly has been criticized by
media players and other stakeholders who have accused the government of
planning to muzzle the media.
Editors through the Editors Guild
had stated they were ready to challenge the constitutionality of the
controversial bill in court.
The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) earlier this week termed the bill as unconstitutional.
Some
of the contentious issues in the bill include having a politically
appointed tribunal that will have powers to impose a fine of Ksh 1M to
any journalist found violating any information-related to law with their
respective media house paying Ksh 20M.
Under the new law, local
media houses will be required to air 45% of local programming daily and
have 18 months to terminate advertising contracts from foreign firms to
meet the prescribed quota.
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