Kenya
President Kibaki of Kenya has, inspite of enormous pressure and lobbying by Kenyan and international media, Church and Human Rights organisations, signed the controversial Communication Amendment Act (dubbed as the Media Bill). The Kenyan media are outraged by this act and have promised to fight what they dub “a gagging of the media”. The Government have taken out massive advertisements in the local newspapers attempting to explain and justify the Bill – an action which in itself suggests the Government knows this Bill will create a lot of problem.
The Bill effectively allows the Government to seize and destroy broadcast equipment, censor TV and Radio content and cancel broadcast licenses on grounds that they determine. Kenya has been touted as having one of the most vibrant and free media on the Continent but this Bill could take us back 20 years.
The Government has now started back-tracking in an effort to appease both the Media Owners and the public but the reality is the Bill is now law!
Coming on the heels of the first Anniversary of the post-election violence this is not a good sign of things to come. Also to commemorate the first anniversary of the post-election troubles is a unique documentary by Kenyan film-maker Frank Odweso seen through the eyes of local journalists assigned to cover probably the biggest story of their lives.
“Kenyan journalists braved marauding gangs in search of stories, putting their lives on the line even as editors agonized over torrents of gory footage and pictures and the dilemma whether to run them or sanitize them. Witness, a 30 minute documentary brings you the story as told by Kenyan journalists who saw it all.”
Ghana
The run-off for the Presidential elections has just been concluded with the Ghana Electoral Commission declaring the opposition candidate, John Atta Mills, as the new President. With the signing in of President Mills last week, this election has been a shining example to the rest of Africa and a much-needed shot in the arm after the disastrous elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe last year.
A24 Media has a background feature on Ghana with former President Jerry Rawlings. Click here for more
Zimbabwe
The cholera epidemic continues in Zimbabwe and it is getting increasingly more difficult to get stories out of Zimbabwe. We are in touch with our contributors there and trying to bring in more in-depth features on the crisis in Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe is appointing his Cabinet with no consultation with the MDC and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been out of the country for the last two months. The coalition agreement is turning out to be a sham with Mugabe still pulling all the strings.
Somalia
Ethiopian troops have begun the pull out of Somalia leading to fears of a further deterioration in the security situation, especially in the capital Mogadishu. The pirates off the coast of Somalia are still operating in spite of increased international navy operations in the area.
A24 Media has a new feature on the Ethiopian Troops pull-out and background features on the pirates. View Story
Pakistan
I know this is NOT a part of our African mandate – but A24 Media believes strongly in providing unique material from ANYWHERE on the globe where we have had access that not many people have ever had. Pakistan is one such area … we have unique footage and still photos of the Pakistan Armed Forces and, with the increasing tension between Pakistan and India, hope this material can help provide more background and insight into the military capability of Pakistan.
Click here to see this amazing material
