Kenyan journalists may face tribunals

When Moreno-Ocampo starts prosecuting Kenyan plotters of the post election violence, some journalists’ names may appear among the accused. May be the journalists’ names are not in the Waki envelop, but they are certainly among those who will be tried together with those who actually did the killings. The journalists were accused by both the Waki and the Kriegler reports for fanning tribal hatred that lead to the mass murders which followed the 2007 elections. The manner in which the Kenyan leaders are treating the post election violence issue shows clearly Moreno-Ocampo will soon start his prosecutions at The Hague. When that happens a second tribunal is likely to be established either in Kenya or in a neighboring country. The second tribunal is likely to operate along the same lines as the Arusha trials of the Rwandan massacres.

Whether the trials take place at The Hague, in Kenya or a neighboring country, the Waki and Kriegler reports will play a major role in guiding the prosecutors. According to the Kriegler report just before the 2007 elections and in their aftermath, political leaders and Kenyans at large were guilty of a truly alarming level of hate speech. The report says degrading, intimidating and inciting language targeted Kenyans on the basis of their gender, age, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic class and political views, and was aired by the media uncurbed.

According to Kriegler talk shows and call-in programs required media personnel who were versed in moderation and who were able to predict a change of tone that may lead to negative results. He explains that words and phrases such as “settlers”, “let’s claim our land”, “people of the milk to cut grass”, “mongoose has come and stolen our chicken”, “madoadoa” and “get rid of weeds” aired by Kass FM and songs such as “talking very badly about beasts from the west”, “Kiiji” and the song by Miuga Njoroge sung in Kikuyu dialect on Kameme and Inooro FM stations which implied that Odinga was a murderer, power hungry and did not care about other tribes but only his own tribe, and that Luos were lazy, they did not work, they did not pay rent and that they were hooligans, were received by Kenyans with mixed feelings.

The South African judge said the Luo stations also played a song “the leadership of the baboons” which vilified the Mount Kenya people. The solution to hate speech by the FM radio stations should, in the views of Kriegler, be found elsewhere not by banning them. Most blame was directed at those media serving the big ethnic groups. These were Kameme FM and Inooro FM for the Kikuyu, Ramogi FM and Lake Victoria FM for the Luo, Kass FM and Chamgei FM for the Kalenjin, Muuga FM for the Embu and Meru, Mulembe FM, West FM and Chettambe FM for the Luhya community, Musyi FM and Mbaito FM for the Akamba and Egesa FM for the Gusii.

Krieglier expressed a major concerns directed at their popular talk shows such as “Baraza”(informal assembly) for Ramogi FM, “Just say it” for Lake Victoria FM, “Hagaria” (sharpen) for Inooro FM and “Arahuka” (Wake Up) for Kameme FM. Even from the titles of the programme, the South African observed, allowed one to sense that the message was bound to be divisive. These programmes, according to him were aired raw and were moderated by persons who had no training and skills in managing such shows, some having been recruited merely because they were entertaining or attractive.

Though Kriegler concluded that the solution was to have trained personnel managethese shows and control the contents of the message broadcast for public consumption, Moreno-Ocampo may not think so. According to the Argentinean prosecutor the journalists committed an offence against humanity and they should be prosecuted.

Kriegler said several FM stations were allegedly owned by politicians and the responsibility for these unacceptable broadcasts could be enhanced by lifting the veil on ownership of such media. Though Kriegler suggested that the subject of hate speech should be explored substantively in the constitutional review debate by all stake holders, he had quite a number of observations to make about the media and journalists as they covered the 2007 elections.

The Kriegler Report is not the only one that points an accusing finger to journalists. The Waki Report too does more or less the same thing . According to Waki before, during, and after the elections, politicians, government, NGOs, members of the media itself, and parts of the public, all had views about whether and how the spread of information through the print and broadcast media had contributed to the 2007 post election violence. Waki says his Commission asked a number of individuals to testify before it concerning the role of the media in the post election violence.

He explains that his Commission therefore invited the Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Attorney General, and the Chair of the Editors’ Guild, who also was the Managing Editor of the Nation Group, to testify before it to solicit their views. Furthermore, a number of members of the public who were victims or witnesses to the post-election violence outlined their experiences to the Commission both in formal testimony and in other statementsto its investigators, says Waki.

According to the Kenyan respected judge many recalled with horror, fear, and disgust the negative and inflammatory role of vernacular radio stations in their testimony and statements to the Commission. In particular, says Waki, they singled out KASS FM as having contributed to a climate of hate, negative ethnicity, and having incited violence in the Rift Valley. However, the judge explains, there were also similar complaints in other parts of the country even though they did not come directly to the attention of the Commission.

These, according to Waki, included the vernacular music and negative ethnicity allegedly coming from Kikuyu FM stations including Kameme, Inooro, Coro, and others in other different parts of the country. This was mentioned critically in various sections of Exhibit no. 125, the KNCHR’s report on Kenya’s post 2007 election violence. With all this evidence against the journalist, it is inconceivable that Moreno-Ocampo will leave them alone.