MCK calls for establishment of media centre in Shakahola

By Peter Ochieng

The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) wants journalists allowed to access Shakahola forest in Kilifi County.

Detectives continue with an operation to exhume bodies of people who 'fasted to death,' in the vast forest.

In the process, detectives have been able to rescue several emaciated people, linked to 'Pastor' Paul Mackenzie's Good News International 'church.'

109 bodies had been exhumed by the close of business, on April 27, 2023.

Alongside the detectives, journalists and human rights activists had camped in the forest, before they were barred through a directive from the Interior Ministry on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.

The move has rattled the Media Council of Kenya.

"The Media Council of Kenya takes exception with the locking out of the media from the Shakahola forest operation scene, where several bodies have been discovered," MCK said in a statement on Thursday.

MCK says the move will open the floodgates of misinformation.

"Denying the media access to report on such a matter of public interest will open the floodgates of misinformation, rumours and confusion to the whole country. It violates the principles of press freedom and the right to information."

The Council wants a media centre to be set up in the area, to enable accurate reporting.

"While noting that it is the media that drew attention of the country to the sad happening for several weeks before any government intervention, Media Council of Kenya calls for the establishment of a media centre and regular press briefings at the site to ensure media access and dissemination of accurate information to Kenyans," added the Council.

In denying the media access, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki teemed the forest an active scene of crime.