Chief Justice Martha Koome has called on the media to embrace its own voice in the political system.
Speaking on Friday, at the Editors Guild Convention, Koome urged the media to embrace a more activist role by remaining vigilant and paying attention to its public role of scrutinizing those in public office.
“Embracing this role will mean that the media will speak with its own voice and not merely echo the voice of the political actors,” she said.
She also urged the media to avoid being used by political actors, and instead promote the common good and public interest during the electioneering period.
She challenged journalists to speak truth to power.
“The media must speak with its own voice and not merely echo the voice of the political actors. This will necessitate embracing a ‘more activist role’ that involves asserting the media’s own voice in utterances and policy proposals by political actors,” she said.
Koome said the media and the Judiciary’s acts of commission and omission were blamed for the escalation of violence after the 2007 General Election.
To avert post-poll chaos, the chief justice said the Judiciary has put in place a committee on elections, which has developed a comprehensive work plan to train judges, judicial officers and staff on efficient mechanisms to handle election disputes.
“We learnt painful lessons from the 2007/2008 experience, and have since endeavoured to build public confidence and trust in the Judiciary’s ability to fairly and justly determine electoral disputes,” she said.
The CJ further said that the Judiciary was engaging other stakeholders on the need for adequate funding and provision of other facilitative infrastructure to ensure optimal conditions for the timely and just determination of electoral disputes.
