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Eyebrows as Citizen TV and NTV go off air on Raila’s ‘big’ day

By NAIRA HABIB January 30th, 2018 1 min read

Kenyans on Twitter have expressed mixed reactions after two mainstream local TV stations were cut off air on Tuesday morning while airing proceedings at Uhuru Park where the Nasa swearing in is scheduled for.

Most online users have said they are unable to receive signals for NTV and Citizen TV including some of the Royal Media Services FM stations.

The stations are available in some parts and platforms like online streaming.

This comes after claims by the Kenya Editors’ Guild (KEG) that the Jubilee government had threatened the local media with dire consequences if they aired the event live.

In a written statement, the Guild accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of threatening the press over the coverage of the ongoing political events in the country.

In the dispatch issued to newsrooms Monday evening through its chairman Linus Kaikai, the Guild reminded the government that the media is not an actor in the ongoing contest between Jubilee Party and Nasa over the outcome of the last General Election.

According to the Guild, on Friday last week, a section of media managers and select editors from the main media houses were quietly summoned to a meeting at the State House, Nairobi where the President expressly threatened to shut down and revoke the licences of any media house that will broadcast live Tuesday’s planned swearing-in of Nasa leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka.

This is how Kenyans on Twitter have reacted to news of the switch off:

https://twitter.com/maccoscyrus/status/958232997815341056