Chiloba Cornered Hours After Threat To Shut Down 6 TV Stations

Communications Authority (CA) Director General, Ezra Chiloba has been met with resistance from members of the public hours after he threatened to withdraw the licenses of six (6) local TV stations over the coverage of the Azimio la Umoja mass protests on Monday, March 20.

On Thursday, March 23, Katiba Institute- a rights lobby group, wrote to Chiloba putting pressure on him to revoke his letter on Wednesday, March 22 accusing Citizen TV, NTV, K24, national broadcaster KBC, TV47 and Ebru TV of violating the Programming Code during their live coverage of the Azimio protests majorly in Nairobi and Kisumu.

In the letter seen by Viral Tea, Katiba Institute through Ochiel J Dudley, Advocates, termed Chiloba's actions as a reminder of the January 2018 TV shutdown when the government switched off the media during NASA demos led by Odinga.

"We see your action as a threat to freedom of expression, information, and of the media and a repetition of the 2018 TV shutdown by you.

"Your decision endangers life because it would enable the trigger-happy Kenyan National Police Service to operate in darkness. That would be the real threat to peace and cohesion in the country," the letter read in part.

Katiba Institute had further termed Chiloba's actions as a reminder of the time of state-sponsored censorship and a presumption that the Kenyan public is not adult enough for the marketplace of ideas, hence his prior censorship of live TV broadcasts.

It then moved to remind him of the many High Court decisions forbidding limiting media freedom on vague grounds like the ones in his letter and issued three demands to be met within the next 24 hours.

"We demand that within the next 24 hours, you revoke the unconstitutional communication, give us copies of the letters sent to the six media houses, and give us minutes and recordings of the Authority meeting at which you made this unconstitutional decision," the letter added.

During the 2018 TV shutdown, former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i ordered the switching off of NTV, KTN and Citizen after they covered Raila Odinga’s mock swearing-in.

“As a result of what happened yesterday, we have commenced investigations targeting individuals. Media houses will remain closed until we complete investigations,” Matiang’i stated back then.

Chiloba's threat to censure media houses received widespread condemnation from various quarters including members of the fourth estate who termed the move as a threat to press freedoms.

"Ezra Chiloba has "banned" media houses from streaming Raila Odinga's demonstrations every Monday and Thursday.

"The plan is to give the demos total blackout. And from the letter, it is obvious the internet shutdown on those days will be the next thing," Juma G wrote on Twitter.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna joins Azimio's mass action protests in Nairobi on Monday, March 20, 2023. /FILE