Consensus for Reform on Media and Information in Kenya: Take the Long View

In a previous post, Shanthi outlines the difficulties in measuring the impact of media development efforts. While accurately pointing to the challenges in gauging success or failure of such initiatives, other factors -- such as laws that make up the “enabling environment” in which media operate – also influence our ability to judge impact. In the short-term, perhaps my recent work with the World Bank Institute (WBI) does not offer clear solutions. Yet, the workshop we conducted with local partners on “Access to Information, Media and Accountability in Kenya,” supported by CommGAP, does present the opportunity to view results in a longer-term perspective.

In this case, the event brought over 40 participants from the Kenyan government, media and civil society together to discuss issues surrounding the newly enacted media law, the access to information (ATI) bill and draft legislation on Information Communication Technology (ICT).The two-day workshop was conducted in November of 2007 by WBI and the International Commission of Jurists in Kenya, an organization heading a coalition of local groups long active in support of an open information environment.

The event took place roughly a month before the flawed elections touched off weeks of violence across the country. In the post-election period, reports emerged that the media were complicit in inciting the violence, and government responded by banning live broadcasts, thereby withholding a key channel of information. When the power-sharing deal was finally brokered, the new government (with 40 ministers and about 65% turnover in parliament) had many priorities that threatened to overshadow the debate on information and communication laws.

Yet, the consensus that was built among participants at the workshop (resulting in a final workshop action plan) around advocacy strategies for the draft laws and implementation plans for the media law helped to keep these issues on the government agenda. Even those participants who had not necessarily been convinced of the merits of making government information available to the public contributed their views to the action plan. So when the coalition of civil society groups and individuals in support of free media and information continued to push this agenda through contacts (including some workshop participants) at the Ministry of Information and within the parliamentary staff, the new Minister of Information ultimately made public promises to prioritize the enactment of the ATI bill while acknowledging the need for a revision of the ICT bill before reintroducing it to parliament.

It is this kind of enduring constituency for reform which will take on a large role in seeing the ATI and ICT bills signed into law in Kenya. In Kenya, as in other African countries, this process can take years -- Nigeria for example currently has the oldest unpassed ATI bill. Once enacted, implementation of these laws is also rife with challenges, but a strong group of reform-minded public officials, media and civil society practitioners can come together in addressing these challenges as well. That is also when evaluation tools such as media monitoring (a regional example) and measuring responses to access to information requests can more clearly gauge success in how media and information laws are implemented. To get to this point, however, takes the long view.

Photo Credit: Flickr User solares