Nairobi: Information Communication and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary, William Kabogo, has defended the decision by the Communication Authority (CA) to switch off digital signals for three media houses for providing live coverage during the June 25 demonstrations. Speaking at Dedan Kimathi University during the launch of the five-year strategic plan for the Office of Data Protection, Kabogo, however, clarified that the government was not keen on curtailing media freedom.
According to Kenya News Agency, the CS said it would have been unethical for the State to allow media houses to continue streaming violent scenes from the demonstrations. Kabogo noted that media houses had been accorded ample time to provide live coverage during the morning hours when the demonstrations were largely peaceful, and that the decision to bar live streaming of the events was reached after the protests turned violent.
‘We are gagging nobody. I said that yesterday when I was asked in Parliament why we switched off live coverage on June 25. I said they ran live coverage all the way from morning to about 2 pm when violence became too much. Remember that we have children at home and it was necessary to protect them from that level of violence,’ he said.
The CS was responding to the ongoing debate regarding a decision by the CA to switch off NTV, KTN, and K24 TV signals during the June 25 demonstrations. The shutdown came moments after the regulator posted a letter on its social media pages banning media houses from providing live coverage of the countrywide demonstrations.
In the advisory signed by CA Director General David Mugonyi, media houses were warned that providing live coverage would be in contravention of Articles 33(2) and 34(1) of the Constitution of Kenya and Section 461 of the Kenya Information and Communication Act of 1998. ‘Failure to abide by this directive will result in regulatory action as stipulated in the Kenya Information and Communication Act, 1998,’ read Mugonyi’s letter.
Kabogo also called on Kenyans to uphold the Constitution. He said that whereas the freedom to demonstrate and picket was guaranteed, members of the public also had a moral obligation to uphold the rule of law and to avoid tarnishing the image of the country to the international community. ‘I want to urge Kenyans to be peaceful. What we are showing the world is not what we are,’ he stated.