KENYA:Hundreds of Kenyan journalists taped their mouths shut in protest yesterday against a media Bill that would force them to disclose their sources for any story that gives rise to a legal dispute.
Roughly 300 reporters, editors and members of civil society groups marched in silence from Nairobi's Uhuru Park to the nearby attorney general's office.
Gagged with tape and carrying placards, the demonstrators urged President Mwai Kibaki to send the proposed law back to parliament. However, in a sign parliamentarians may be preparing to back down, minister of information Muthai Kagwe told journalists on Tuesday the legislature had requested Mr Kibaki to send the Bill back to be re-examined.
Also on Tuesday, attorney general Amos Wako said he had urged Mr Kibaki not to enact the Bill.
"If the Bill is passed, we are going back to the old ages where there was no freedom of expression," mumbled Lucianne Limo, a reporter with the Standard newspaper, from the corner of her mouth otherwise sealed with masking tape.