High Court Saves Standard Group From Shutdown By Govt

The High Court has issued a temporary order stopping the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) from revoking Standard Group’s broadcasting licences until the matter is heard on May 2, 2025.

This comes after Standard Group filed a petition, arguing that the CA planned to cancel its licence over a Ksh43 million debt. The company claimed it had been following a repayment agreement, raising its monthly payments from Ksh2.5 million to Ksh4 million.

Previously, the CA initiated a process to revoke all the company’s broadcast licenses, citing unsettled regulatory fees, a move that threatened to cripple arguably the core of all operations at Standard Group Limited.

In a letter dated April 9 and signed by CA Director General David Mugonyi, the Communications Authority announced its intention to publish a Kenya Gazette notice revoking all broadcasting licences held by the media house.

“This letter serves to inform you that the Authority is progressing to publish a notification on the revocation of all the broadcast licences issued to the Standard Group PLC in the Kenya Gazette,” read the letter.

The Authority cited the failure to pay license fees and the Universal Service Fund (USF) levy, and also dismissed a debt repayment plan the company had proposed in December 2024. The agreement was aimed at clearing Ksh48 million in regulatory dues, which the Standard Group attributes to ongoing economic challenges.

In response, the media company fired back, calling the move a politically driven effort to silence its critical reporting on the Kenya Kwanza government. 

“We entered and signed an agreement with the Communication Authority that we will be paying Ksh2.5 million a month towards the completion of this debt,” Standard Group’s Chief Executive Editor, Chaacha Mwita, disclosed.

“And we went ahead to increase this amount from Ksh2.5 million to Ksh4 million a month. We have been adhering to that payment plan. So, anything outside of that smacks of ill-will and malice, and we have no option but to fight it.”

Standard Group stated that it had already made a Ksh10 million payment in December 2024, followed by additional payments of Ksh4 million each in January and February 2025, showing a committed effort to stick to the agreed repayment plan.

Mwita connected the threat to revoke the licences with the Group’s recent investigative reporting and hard-hitting headlines, which have uncovered alleged corruption and governance lapses within President William Ruto’s administration.

“What we publish and carry is the reality of the day. We are not going to back down, we are not going to report things that are not the reality just to make some people happy,” he said.

“We have audiences, and we have the responsibility as a media house to hold the mirror to society, and that is what we are doing. We stand firm with our audiences, and we tell them that KTN is their destination for news and information. And so is The Standard newspaper.”

Standard Group also disclosed that although the government is pressing for Ksh48 million in licence fees, it owes the media house Ksh1.2 billion in unpaid advertising bills from various ministries, state agencies, and county governments.

The company added that it filed a case with the Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal, requesting an injunction to stop the Gazette Notice from being published. The High Court's directive hands a reprieve to the media house, which has been in existence for more than a century.