Striving Media, Sprawling ICC, and Sacrosanct Government: The Kenyan Entanglement

Abstract

Given the ongoing democratisation and human rights advancement around the globe, including in societies hitherto never thought permeable such as the Muslim world, it is futile for a present day government to use freedom-curtailing means to reign on its subservient: be it media, civil society or the populace. The resilience exhibited by the Kenyan media, albeit amidst blame for occasionally going to bed with government, points at media focused on serving the fast democratising Kenyan society in the wake of ICC heightened charges against top government officials. In 1963, Malcolm X stated that the media are the most powerful entity on earth, and human beings, as renowned writer and critic Wole Soyinka argues, like to dominate others, especially if they are in power and this makes them seek the power of the media to perpetuate their internal inadequacy. While attempting to analyse the love-hate relationship between the Kenyan government and the media, especially on ICC issues, this study seamlessly merges Malcolm X’s and Soyinka’s opinions above and draws a lesson for both government and media.