Media freedom: Tanzania, Kenya on the spot
The Committee to Protect Journalists has put a spotlight on Kenya and Tanzania over their treatment of the media. PHOTO | FILE
The Committee to Protect Journalists has put a spotlight on
Kenya and Tanzania over their treatment of the media in the past few
months.
The Committee and 64 civil society groups from
around the world want the Tanzania government to address the
deteriorating environment for media, human rights defenders and
opposition party members.
They also urge Kenya’s
President Uhuru Kenyatta not to sign into law the Cybercrimes Bill that
was passed by parliament in April, saying it was intended to stifle
press freedom in the country.
In a letter to Tanzania’s
President John Magufuli, CPJ and the human-rights organisations, urge
the government to recognise “the essential role that a vibrant civil
society and an independent media play in creating peaceful and equal
societies.”
“We are deeply alarmed that these
human-rights issues are being undermined by the unwarranted closure of
media outlets, judicial persecution and harassment of independent
journalists, the targeted assassination of opposition party members,
blanket restrictions on peaceful protests and the introduction and
invocation of a raft of laws to undermine freedom of speech online,”
they added.
Tanzania’s Electronic and Postal
Communications (Online Content) Regulations, which were signed into law
in March, stipulate that all bloggers and persons operating online radio
and television streaming services must secure a license and pay an
annual fee of over $900 before they can publish any material online.
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