Veteran activist Okiya Omtata has submitted a petition to court seeking to overturn the government’s directive that led to switching off Kenya’s leading TV stations, arguing the move is contravening the constitution.
Media stations such as KTN News, Citizen and NTV have been off-air following the directive from the government that they reported NASA’s ‘swearing-in’ event that happened at Uhuru Park, Nairobi on Tuesday afternoon.
Omtata’s petition highlights an argument that the government’s directive is in utter violations of Article 33 and 34 of the Constitution, which guarantee media freedom and access to information.
The activist is seeking to convince the court to compensate the affected media houses for losses that have been incurred during the two days they have been off-air. In the argument, the petition is of the view that both consumers of the content as well as media houses have had their rights repudiated following the implementation of the order.
The petition partly reads:
“Without warning and without giving any reasons, in the morning of 30th January, 2018, the Respondents switched off (shut down) free to air transmission on television channels owned by the first to third interested parties.”
He emphasizes that freedom of speech and access to information is provided in the constitution and cannot be limited through unconstitutional means.
On Wednesday morning, Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi remained adamant and said that the stations will remain off as the government embarks on investigating what transpired.
Media owners and the editors have so far condemned the government directive terming it a move to muzzle the free media, and an attempt to return the country to dictatorship.
