You’re wrong on TV migration, lawyers tell State

One of the lawyers involved in writing the new Constitution has accused the government of interfering with the public’s right of access to information following the switching off of the three major TV stations.

Dr Ekuru Aukot, who was the chief executive officer of the Committee of Experts that wrote the Constitution said: “It is a complete interference and denial of freedom of the media to the institutions and Kenyans at large. Freedom of the media is enshrined in the Constitution, which the government has sworn to protect.”

Mr Wilfred Nderitu, former chairman of the Kenya chapter of the International Commission of Jurists, said switching off of analogue signals of NTV, QTV, KTN and Citizen TV amounted to denial of economic and human rights to the institutions and individuals.

There is increasing disquiet about the decision to switch off the signals, apparently to meet a digital migration deadline of June 17, which some 30 African countries have already said they will not meet.

The top media houses want the government to give them a digital licence to air their own programmes. They also want the State to allow them time to import and distribute set-top boxes to viewers.

However, the government is pushing the broadcasters, who account for 90 per cent of TV audiences in Kenya, to hand over their content to a Chinese firm, a position they have resisted.

The Chinese firm is shrouded in mystery regarding its ownership, with claims that it has a Kenyan shareholder against an earlier position that it is fully Chinese owned.

Dr Aukot argued the Bill of Rights has the expression that enjoyment of human rights can only be denied if the enjoyment appeared to harm other individuals.

“There is absolutely no injury to the government if TV stations continue with analogue broadcasting. This is open interference with the rights of institutions and individuals to information” he said.

Mr Nderitu, who was a victims lawyer at The Hague in the case involving Deputy President William Ruto and former radio broadcaster Joshua Sang, argued that the government was denying the media houses and Kenyans fundamental freedoms by compelling local TV stations to broadcast on a platform they are not prepared for.

“The government knows it is interfering with the freedom of the media. It knew that this (shutting down analogue transmission) was going to provide lopsided coverage of news,” he said.

It is only K24 and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) that are broadcasting now. “They know it because there is no guessing who is behind K24 TV while KBC is government owned,” said Mr Nderitu.

Communications authority officials, on February 14, raided NTV, QTV, KTN and Citizen TV transmission stations in Limuru and dismantled analogue equipment and carted them away. The intention was to force the stations to hand over their content to government-owned firm Signet and Chinese owned Pan Africa Group (Pang), for distribution.

“Forcing the three media houses to provide their channels to either Pang or Signet will be inconsistent with the right to carry their own content as provided by the Self Provisioning Licence,” argued the media houses.

The media houses said the effect of the shutdown in Limuru was aimed at forcing them to produce news content at their cost and then hand it over to the Chinese and government firms at no cost.

Today marks the start of the second week after the shutdown, with opinion polls indicating that Kenyans are against the government in the standoff.