Judgment on State advertising monopoly pushed to later date

Justice Lawrence Mugambi. [File, Standard] The High Court in Nairobi has pushed a judgment on whether the government's decision to monopolise advertisement is legal or not. Justice Lawrence Mugambi said he will deliver the landmark judgment on March 21, 2025 since it was not ready. The judge had initially given February 6 this year as the judgment date. However, he directed that the judgment would be read on Thursday but never happened. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) challenged the government's decision not to run its adverts in three national newspapers. The Kenya Kwanza government instructed state agencies not to advertise in other newspapers with national appeal in a move seen as a bid to control information. Kenya Kwanza decided to deny The Standard Group PLC (SG), Nation Media Group (NMG) and People Daily a contract to run My.Gov pull-out. Instead, it settled for The Star newspaper, in a contract issued to Convergence Africa Media Limited. In court, LSK argued that The Star only circulates in Nairobi. According to the lawyers umbrella body, the government is not only denying Kenyans access to crucial information on jobs and government tenders, but is also stifling their participation in decisions that require scrutiny and their contribution. "Because of restriction now imposed in the publication, printing and distribution of My.Gov publication, many Kenyans and consumers of government information who reside outside Nairobi run the real risk of losing out on crucial information which is published on My.Gov publication pull out," said LSK lawyer Peter Wanjiku. Wanjiku told Justice Mugambi that on February 8, 2017, the then head of public service Joseph Kinyua communicated to all PSs that the Cabinet had decided to establish its paper dubbed My.Gov. In the memo, all autonomous and semi-autonomous state agencies are to advertise in the paper run by the Government Advertising Agency (GAA). The court heard that the government then started running the pullout through the four daily newspapers. This lasted until December last year when Kenya Kwanza ordered that My.Gov would be supplied through competitive bidding. The court heard that the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology then gave orders that no agency of government would advertise outside the exclusive deal. He argued that both My.Gov and the GAA are not established under any law or in the Constitution. On the flip side, he said, access to government information is a right that is ratified by regulation requiring that the government pass information through newspapers that have a countrywide reach. LSK sued the Attorney General, National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Services (State Department of Broadcasting and Communications), Convergence Africa and The Star Publications Limited. In her supporting affidavit, LSK Chief Executive Officer Florence Muturi stated that the decision to restrict government advertisement and formation of GAA and My.Gov was never subjected to public participation and stakeholder engagement. She said the government's move was clouded with mischief because it never sought to have it subjected to the national legislation process. "The establishment of GAA under Treasury circular no. 09/2013 and the subsequent establishment and launch of My.Gov through a memorandum issued on February 8, 2017, and the decision to exclusively award the four and fifth respondents the contract of advertising services to The Star newspaper therefore making them the sole printers and distribution of My.Gov are illegal and unconstitutional," said Muturi.

Judgment on State advertising monopoly pushed to later date

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