Information Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i still talking tough as TV blackout enters week two

A week since Kenyans were plunged into information darkness following the switch off of three leading television stations, KTN, NTV and Citizen, positions are hardening, with media owners and Information Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i pulling in different directions.

In two separate sessions, at Parliament Buildings and at his office, the CS maintained there was no turning back on the TV switch-off decision. Appearing before members of the National Assembly’s Energy, Communication and Information Committee on Tuesday, Mr Matiang’i maintained the Government would not cede any ground.

He reiterated the same position the following day when he met the media owners, led by their Chairman, Sam Shollei, at his Nairobi office. But speaking separately, Nation Media Group’s Chairman, Wilfred Kiboro, revealed that during a separate visit to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Head of State requested the two parties to consult and arrive at a mutual agreement.

The media owners want the Government to allow their television stations back on air. They are also asking for 100 more days to enable them import into the country set-up boxes and install transmitters across the country.

However, Matiang’i maintains there is “absolutely no dispute” between the Government and media houses: “We are implementing a public policy in line with the global IT (Information and Technology) dictates. We have worked together on this all along with the media houses and at no point did we differ, except that now we have challenges which we are trying to address.”

But the CS regrets that two thirds of what the media owners are requesting can only be done by the regulators, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). “We are at a point now where we are asking ourselves – how do we support each other so that we can move in the same direction to achieve the migration goal to the digital platform by mid this year?” said Matiang’i.

Going by the current developments, Yatta MP, Francis Mwangangi happily notes that all players are willing to migrate to the digital platform. He appeals to the CA to take advantage of the situation to discuss and agree on an amicable solution. “If we have waited for all these years, what is wrong in waiting for just another 100 days?” asks the MP.

However, Rarieda MP and a member of the Energy and Communications House committee, Nicholas Gumbo, has reservations. The MP says the position of the CS and CA Director General, Francis Wangusi, “appears partisan and their approach to the digital migration is rather bullish.” Gumbo observes that the two are more obsessed with the numbers of television stations that have complied and not the total number of viewers affected.

“Underlying all this is that there are very deep vested business interests,” says Gumbo.

In the meantime, an irked former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said if by Monday the three stations would not be back on air, he shall organise and lead demonstrations in Nairobi. “How can you lock out 90 per cent of the population from accessing information?” he asked.