Breaking News-Radio Talk Show Hosts Arrested in Kenya

Today, Dec 12th marked the 45th anniversary of Kenya's indipendence.

Not so for four kenyan journalists who were rounded up near the the national fest venue in the Kenyan Capital,Nairobi.

This is a breaking story and there is very scanty details on circumstances that have led to the arrest of these four popular. Radio talk show hosts.

This comes in backdrop of heated radio talk show debates that have been hammering the govt on its plan to gag the media through an ammended media bill that has been sneaked into Kenyan parliament seeking to curtail the freedom of the press that the govt blames for having fueled the infamous post election violence. At the beggining of this year.

The media in kenya has had several protest demonstrations held this year over the same bill and the govt had backtracked on tabling the bill in its present form fearing more protestations and public outcry over the implications of the proposed bill on freedom of the press.

It seems that now the govt is determined to see the bill passes before a referandum is held for the new constitution that is scheduled for sometime next year.

In the past referandum in which the govt was defeated,the FM radio stations especially those broadcasting in vernacular languages were blamed for misreprenting facts about the govt backed draft constitution in those areas that the govt support weak and these are the very same area that were heavily rocked by the post election violence.

The tables have turned since then as these area are now represented in the Grand Coalition govt but the fate of press freedom in kenya is now much worse than it was then.

Watch for more details on this developing story.

UPDATE-07:00 GMT

New details emerging on the arrest of the radio journalists earlier today at the venue of the National Fest to mark Kenya's Indipendence day show that a group of journalist had planned to use their accredited status to the fest venue to present a petition to the Kenyan President urging him to to to sign the Media bill being tabled in parliament when it is presented to him for assent.

In a clever move,one of the radio talk show comedians who had just finished entertaining the president with a funny skit walked up to him in the VIP Dais and tried to present the petition to him before he was whisked away by the security detail.

Images of a lady journalis being manhandled by hefty policemen into a police Landrover were being run live side by side with the Presidential speech in the live transmission TV broadcast as well as a voice over on this sad incident.

The President was booed at the end of his speech by sympathisers of the journalist who tried to present the petition.

This was not helped by his lacklustre speech that failed to address the grave food shortage that is gripping the country and over the roof food prices.

The Media bill seeks to curtail the flow of information thro the printed and electronic media by allowing the govt to monitor all channels of information flow including text messages in mobile phones and opening of letters to individuals who are under watch for handling sensitive material.

According to the bill,it is just a matter of time before every keystroke that I make in publishing this stories will be redirected and monitored by the special squad that will be put in place to listen in into our every communication gadget.

I wish the govt luck in this disitastiful momentus task in the name of State security.

UPDATE :20:00 GMT

Read the Journalists Without Borders Petition to President KibaKi this evening;

http://allafrica.com/stories/200812120568.html