Nasa supporters at Uhuru Park, Nairobi on January 30, 2018. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE
Three main television stations in Kenya were Tuesday switched
off after airing live footage as the opposition prepared to swear-in
Raila Odinga as the "people's president".
The Nation
Media Group's NTV, Royal Media's Citizen, and Standard Group's KTN News
went off air mid-morning while showing live broadcasts of National Super
Alliance (Nasa) supporters who had gathered at the historic Uhuru Park
from as early as 5am.
The Kenyan government had on Monday been reported to have warned the media against airing Mr Odinga's oath taking.
According
to Kenya Editors' Guild chairman Linus Kaikai, who is the NTV's general
manager, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto had
summoned some media representatives to State House on Friday where they
were threatened with shutdown and revocation of licences should they
broadcast live the planned Nasa "swearing in".
"This
brazen threat is intended to intimidate the media from performing its
rightful role of informing the public on matters affecting them," Mr
Kaikai said in a statement Monday.
The Daily Nation reported
that the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) engineers had been told
to be on standby on Tuesday at the country's main transmission station
in Limuru, in central Kenya, should any local TV station broadcast live
the event at Uhuru Park.
Royal Media Service managing director Mr Wachira Waruru while
confirming the switch-off on Tuesday said the government gave no reason
for the move.
“We would like to confirm this morning
that the Communication Authority of Kenya disconnected Citizen and
Inooro TV transmission. There has been no official communication as to
why this action was taken,” Mr Waruru said.
2017 polls
On Friday, Nasa declared that its leader Mr Odinga, 72, won the August 8 presidential election.
The
veteran opposition leader who claims he has had three elections stolen
from him, has refused to accept President Kenyatta's re-election, which
came after a deeply divisive 2017 polls season in which rights activists
say at least 92 people were killed.
The
election was annulled by the country’s Supreme Court for “illegalities
and irregularities” which ordered a re-run on October 26.
Claiming the poll would not be fair, Mr Odinga boycotted the second vote and Mr Kenyatta won with 98 per cent.
Since
boycotting the re-run poll, citing a lack of reform at the election
commission, Nasa's strategy has been to challenge Kenyatta's legitimacy
by seeking to establish parallel government structures.
Opposition
politicians have convened so-called "people's assemblies" in some
counties and the inauguration of Odinga as "people's president" is seen
as the culmination of this process.
The "inauguration"
has raised fears of violence as police had vowed not to allow the event
to go ahead. However officers kept their distance as hundreds gathered
at the Uhuru Park venue.
-Additional reporting by AFP.
No comments :
Post a Comment