Kenya media practitioners fear that two controversial bills that the country’s national assembly is scheduled to discuss could ultimately curtail freedom of speech in the country.

Parliament on Wednesday has been scheduled to deliberate on the ‘Kenya Information and Communication Acts Bill 2013 (KICA)’ and the ‘Media Council of Kenya (MCK) Bill 2013’.

In particular, the establishment of the ‘Broadcasting Standard Committee’ under section 6E of the KICA Bill 2013 proposes that a group of people are to be tasked with developing standards for broadcast content, raising fears of strict content control.

Moreover, the committee’s establishment has been viewed as a bid to transfer power from the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) to the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), the country’s telecoms regulatory body.

It has been the MCK that has been responsible for regulating professional standards and ethical reporting in Kenya.

“We want all matters of regulation of professional ethics and the conduct of journalists and the media enterprises to be the sole preserve of the Media Council of Kenya,” reads a joint statement from the media fraternity that comprises the Media Owners Association, Kenya Editors’ Guild, Kenya Union of Journalists and the Kenya Correspondents Association.

Media freedom campaigner, Henry Maina, has argued that “the CCK ought to limit itself to matters of regulation of broadcasting licenses, signal distribution with a view to achieve equity, and not meddle in matters of regulation of media content.”

He argued the regulation of broadcast content as an attempt by government to gag the media.

The outcome of parliament’s deliberations on the matter, though, have not been finalised at the time of writing.