Kenya May Withdraw Offending Section of Media Law

Kenya has said that it may withdraw a controversial section in a press law requiring editors to reveal their sources if asked to do so in court, Information Minister Mutahi Kagwe has reported.

The proposed Media Bill has been passed through parliament and is now only awaiting the attorney general's interpretation and a nod from President Mwai Kibaki.

The clause on disclosing sources has provoked an uproar from church and religious leaders who have also united with media houses, opposition leaders, and civil society groups in declaring the law a threat to hard-won press freedoms.

Kagwe told journalists: "If indeed the attorney general says that it interferes with the issue of the source, then I will be the first person to tell the president that this clause negates some of the gains we have made."

He added it would then be returned to parliament for the offending clause to be addressed, before being sent again to the president.

The controversial clause states:

"When a story includes unnamed parties who are not disclosed and the same becomes the subject of a legal tussle as to who is meant, then the editor shall be obligated to disclose the identity of the party or parties referred to."

Journalists in the capital Nairobi have planned a silent protest to the attorney general's office on Wednesday morning.

They plan to gag their mouths while some editors will leave front pages of their newspapers blank or refuse to air any news on radio.

Last week, four opposition politicians sought a court injunction to block the bill which critics say would be a return to the days of former President Daniel arap Moi when reporters were routinely harassed and sometimes tortured.

Under the rule Moi's successor Kibaki, the media have had greater freedom but that had a setback when the government carried out an armed raid on the second largest media house, the Standard Group, in 2006.