By Muli wa Kyendo

If, you are in Kenya and have a secret to help your friend to become a president, don’t do it. If you do, remember that tomorrow, when he is the president, you will be his target for elimination. That is the wisdom that informs our political class.

When Kenyans were oppressed by the dictatorship of former president Daniel arap Moi, the media became the focal point for the campaign to remove him from power. The media galvanized the opposition and pressured them to unite under former Vice President Mwai Kibaki—a man who had tried many times before to become president and failed. The media dressed him up and shepherded him into power.

But who became the biggest enemy, to Mwai Kibaki, the president? The media!

Ever since coming into power Mwai Kibaki and his entire family have been at war with the media. Kibaki has, at every opportunity, brought in laws that are against the media. The wife, Lucy Kibaki, has even walked into newsrooms in the dead of the night and dismantled cameras and other equipment, slapping journalists she didn’t like. The culmination was the night attack of the Standard newspapers and Kenya Television Network (KTN, Kenya’s second largest media house) by hooded hooligans in 2006. They disabled broadcasting equipment and burned newspapers.

Last year, in the General Elections, the opposition, led by Mr. Raila Odinga, posed as the best alternative to the Kibaki regime. The media once again came out in Raila’s support. And even when he was “rigged out” by the Kibaki regime, the media stood by him, forcing Kibaki to agree to share power with Raila. Now Raila is the powerful Prime Minister.

And now that he is in power, Raila, too, has joined Kibaki to oppress the media. The new Media Bill which allows the government to dismantle equipment belonging to “hostile” media houses, and to open individual letters and intercept emails, was passed by the two men! And not surprisingly, the two have remained mum even when chaos occur in front of their noses.

The media will have to look elsewhere, not upon these two men, if they are to survive.