Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party has announced a new web portal that they launched for Kenyans to upload recordings from the protests.
Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi, on Sunday said this was in response to what it called a threat to media freedom concerning the coverage of the demonstrations.
“In the face of real threat to the free media, we wish to assure Kenyans that we have to put in place a secure web platform where members of the public are invited to post occurrences in form of photos, videos and audios, during our weekly peaceful demonstrations,”Wandayi tweeted.
“This material will be available for the world to see. This will enable us to keep the public and all stakeholders informed of progress and real time occurrences across the country.”
The MP, who was arrested during the protests on Monday, said anybody can access and post anonymously on the web portal.
He also said that anyone can view the materials posted remotely, adding, “All those that intend to cause mayhem will also be captured through a number of our IP-enabled spy cameras that can transmit to our cloud servers in real time.”
The portal will be accessed through mddkenya.com.
During last weeks demonstrations, Raila announced that they will hold protests on Monday’s and Thursdays due to what he described as public demand.
Media Channels
However, the government threatened to revoke six media channels over their live coverage of Monday’s protests.
Communication Authority, criticized Citizen TV, NTV, K24, KBC,TV47 and Ebru TV, saying that the broadcasters had violated the code of coverage.
CEO, Ezra Chiloba noted that the live airing of the protests was a form of incitement to the public and it may upset the peace of the country.
However, the High Court suspended Chiloba’s censure on Friday , following a case filed by the Katiba Institute, Law Society of Kenya (LSK)as well as Journalist Union who said the decision could undermine media freedom.
The High Court also said that CA’s decision might endanger lives of people since the police would be acting in absence of the fourth estate as the people’s watchdog.
“CA’S decision could have a chilling effect on media freedom, freedom of information, and freedom of expression,’ read court documents.
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