Government Now Targets Foreign Journalists

The Government has issued notice to foreign journalists warning them that they risk prosecution if they do not obtain valid press cards from the Department of Information.

According to the Daily Nation, the Director of Information Joseph Olewe Owiti said journalists planning to be in the country for a short period of up to three months should be issued with special passes while those deployed in the country for a period exceeding three months will have to be issued with a work permit.

Foreign journalists have also been warned against making films for public exhibition or sale within or outside Kenya without a proper licence. The head of Film Services Ernest Kerich said that during the recently concluded General Election, foreign journalists applied for and were issued with press cards to cover the election.

“The accreditation was only for the purposes of news coverage and not for documentary film making. Contrary to the provisions of the law, it has come to our attention that some journalists went ahead and also engaged in documentary film making using the same press passes,” he said Wednesday.

This directive comes just days after CNN did a story about Kenyans in Rift Valley arming themselves ahead of the polls and later declined to withdraw it.