[July 27, 2011] Kenya PM faults local media on drought response Tweet NAIROBI, Jul 27, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday faulted the local media for misrepresenting facts about the government response in mitigate the impact of the prevailing drought in the country. He censored the press for portraying the state in bad light in the face of the humanitarian crisis as if the government had done nothing to cushion affected residents from the ravages of the biting famine. "The media has unfairly put the government on the dock over delays to address the calamity yet the matter was tabled in parliament five months ago before relief operations started," Odinga said. Speaking in Nairobi when he presided over the launch of a Graduate School of Media and Communication Studies at the Aga Khan University, Odinga said press reports insinuating that expected relief shipments was not safe further aggravated the situation. "Am even surprised that the foreign press who did the same story acknowledged and gave a human face to both the Ethiopian and the Kenyan government for their contribution to address the crisis" he said. The premier was reacting to recent press reports to the effect that the yellow maize expected to bridge the food deficit was Genetically Modified sparking debate over their safety. "The negative coverage caused the delayed in release of relief shipments at the port forcing the government to opt for alternative supplies from the Strategic Grain Reserve" he said. Odinga asked the local media to uphold ethics and traditional values of respect, honesty and fairness to all protagonists appearing in their coverage to ensure that proper due was replicated to every action. He insisted that commitment to ethics must be instilled journalists through training arguing that the launch of media faculty at the university was critical in transforming and putting the media on the right path. "We need the media to be the tools for communication with one another rather shout at each other. The seeds of competence in this task must be sown during training," Odinga said. The premier's response comes in the wake of media bashing of government purported failure to contain the food crisis with the number of needy cases increasing by the day. The government had earlier in the year rolled out relief operations in the worst affected areas where a school fee for students in public institutions was waived to ease pressure on victims. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]