• According to Kenya Editors’ Guild, neither the MCK CEO nor the chair has the legal authority to withhold or withdraw recognition of a legally-appointed council member.
• The organization has urged MCK CEO not to succumb to external pressures that may lead him into committing an illegality.
The Kenya Editors’ Guild has expressed its dissatisfaction with the continuing impasse over the attempted removal of a Media Council of Kenya Board Member.
MCK president Churchill Otieno said in a statement on Sunday that any action that negatively impacts the integrity and independence of the media council is a threat to media freedom.
This comes following the move taken by MCK CEO David Omwoyo to remove Tabitha Mutemi from MCK Board.
Omwoyo is said to have acted following an advisory from the office of the Attorney General.
The president said that Mutemi had been appointed following a successful interview by a stakeholder selection panel, and duly gazetted as a member of the MCK board by ICT CS Joe Mucheru on October 31, 2019.
“This was the basis on which the CEO subsequently wrote informing the chairman that the Secretariat no longer ‘recognised’ Ms. Mutemi as a member of the Council. All these developments are deeply disturbing as they ignore due process,” Otieno said.
He said that the laid down mechanism for appointment and removal of MCK Council members underpins independence of the MCK, and by extension independence of the Media.
According to the organisation, Mutemi navigated the application, short-listing, interviews, and appointment process without her status as an IEBC employee is found to be an impediment by the selection panel and the appointing authority.
“In fact, we are aware her employment status was canvassed in the selection panel and she was allowed to proceed.”
According to Otieno, neither the MCK CEO nor the chair has the legal authority to withhold or withdraw recognition of a legally-appointed council member.
“This is unheard of in corporate governance where the Executive is answerable to the Council. Neither does the Cabinet Secretary, as the formal appointing authority, have powers to unilaterally remove any board member without a rigorous process to ensure such protection of media freedom.”
He continued that;
“It follows that any advisory from the Attorney General that a Council member is ineligible to serve cannot be acted upon until the laid-down mechanisms for removal have been followed. Any premature direction from CEO or anybody else is irregular, a threat to the independence of MCK and ultimately freedom of Media as Constitutionally protected.”
The organization has urged MCK CEO not to succumb to external pressures that may lead him into committing illegality, and also into compromising the integrity of his office.
So far, Mutemi has challenged the purported removal and has threatened to sue, and has also written to the Speaker of the National Assembly and the relevant Departmental Committee.
The organization has said that it will petition the National Assembly to urge them to ensure the protection of media freedom for the benefit of Kenyan citizens and their democratic rights.