By CHURCHILL OTIENO

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As the world takes stock of the happenings in the media landscape with a view to building on the gains while seeking a remedy in areas where crucial ground has been lost, Kenya finds itself in a not-so-savoury spot, occupying position 96 on a media freedom index prepared by Reporters Without Borders.

The index illustrates the serious threats to journalists in Kenya, Tanzania (93rd) and Uganda (117th), falling standards of constitutionalism and challenges to the rule of law.

The Nordic nations of Norway and Sweden were rated first and second respectively.

Coming on the heels of last year’s general election, one of Kenya’s most politically charged and highly polarising, the event finds the local media industry at a crossroads.

For journalists, the prolonged election period came with routine harassment, physical attacks, threats and intimidation by the government, security agents, politicians, political parties and their supporters.

This affects the quality of press freedom, an imperative that is enshrined in the Constitution. These actions threaten the freedom of the media, which is detrimental to constitutionalism, democracy and the rule of law.

The end of the electioneering period proved to be no less painful. Following the January 30 mock swearing-in of opposition leader Raila Odinga as the “people’s president,” four leading privately owned television stations were shut down by the government for their disregard of a directive not to cover the event. Several editors and journalists faced intimidation and threats of arrest.

Journalists were again to bear the brunt of brutality of the state machinery when they were beaten up and kicked out of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while on duty.

As a new team takes over at the Kenya Editors Guild, it does so with the resolute determination to make the entrenchment of media freedom a key — if not central — plank of its multifaceted agenda.

As the foremost body for senior journalists in the country, the KEG undertakes to engage in open discussions with all players in the media industry, the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and others to place the issue of media freedom at the core of democratic governance.

We commit to professional standards, enshrined in our code of conduct and underpinned by fidelity to accuracy and verification. Similarly, we ask the President to ensure that the media operate in a conducive environment.

Two pieces of legislation offer immediate opportunity for the president. Two years later, not one government agency has complied with the Access to Information Act (2016), especially on regulations.

Second, the Computer and Cybercrimes Bill has just been passed by the National Assembly to much outcry, especially on provisions on fake news, which may be open to abuse. The government must not only commit itself to press freedom in word but also in deed.

Churchill Otieno is the chairman, Kenya Editors Guild.