Milka Ndoncho/ Cheruiyot Korir

The Cabinet Secretary for ICT Mr. Joe Mucheru has said that the Government is keen on supporting and strengthening the media industry in the country to facilitate access to information by citizens for development.

Mr. Mucheru said the that the media plays an important role in promoting development and playing the watchdog role in the society and that the government is committed to allowing the media operating freely without interference.

Speaking at a Nairobi hotel during a launch of a report on the media landscape in Kenya, Mr. Mucheru said the government is keen on using the media to educate and inform the citizens on government programs such as Ajira, universal health care and other essential government services.

The Cabinet Secretary said, the government is working towards making Kenya a film making destination. He said that, film and scriptwriting competition have been undertaken to identify film scripts telling Kenyan stories that would be co-produced with China, to target China and the global market. He said the selection panel has
completed their work and winners will be announced soon.

He challenge the media in the country to work with the Department of Film Services to access some of the scripts and explore possibilities of investing in the creative film production for local programming.

‘As the media fraternity, we must work to champion for both free media and better development of media suppliers, including journalists and content producers’, Mr. Mucheru said.

He called on the media to exercise responsibility in the course of their duties and use their power for the good of society.

‘And please don’t get me wrong – if, as a government, we put a foot in the wrong place, please do tell us. But in the same vein, let Wanjiku know of the various developments that are happening around her, for only then, will she be empowered enough to start demanding better services from her Government’ Mucheru said

The Cabinet Secretary said, the Ministry is committed to ensuring presence of quality Kenyan content on the broadcast channels.

He said that the Communication Authority of Kenya has put in place guidelines to ensure that local content occupies a bigger share of broadcast content. He explained that the Ministry plans to introduce program and advertising levy for all content produced outside the country.

He said the levy will be invested to grow the film industry by providing necessary equipment and training, to produce quality content for global audience. He pointed out that the levy will target advertisements and programes imported and aired in the country.