City lawyer to head Media Complaints Commission
ICT Cabinet Minister Joe Mucheru appointed William Otieno Oketch as chairperson of Media Complaints Commission for a period of three years.
What you need to know:
- Also appointed are Dr Nancy Achieng Booker, Mr Demas Tuikong Kiprono, Ms Esther Jowi Anyango Aduma, Mr Lempaa Vincent Suiyanka and Ms Polly Gathoni Waweru.
- The new commission has a full in-tray, with over 100 pending complaints against the media.
Nairobi lawyer William Oketch has been appointed as the chairman of the Media Complaints Commission.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru made the appointment in the latest Kenya Gazette published Friday.
Mr Oketch — a former acting chairman of the Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal — is a legal practitioner with 12 years of experience in litigation, adjudication, media policy analysis, legal research and drafting and compliance risk advisory, both in the private and public sector.
He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Strathmore Business School, a Bachelor's degree in Law from Kampala International University and postgraduate diploma in Legal Practice from the Kenya School of Law. He is also a certified mediator.
The CS also appointed six other members of the commission, including Mr Henry Omusundi Maina, the regional director of Article 19 Eastern Africa.
Also appointed are Dr Nancy Achieng Booker, Mr Demas Tuikong Kiprono, Ms Esther Jowi Anyango Aduma, Mr Lempaa Vincent Suiyanka and Ms Polly Gathoni Waweru.
The new commission has a full in-tray, with over 100 pending complaints against the media.
The appointments also come at a time when the role of the media and the government's commitment to uphold media freedoms is coming into sharp focus.
The media fraternity last week asked the government to train their guns at perpetrators of political violence instead of issuing directives that interfere with media freedom.
The term of the previous commission lapsed on October 3, 2019.
