Kenya Editors Guild condemns CA for switching off TV stations signals

In a statement, KEG president Zubeidah Kananu termed the move as 'draconian and unacceptable', citing that it serves as a deliberate attempt to intimidate the media into silence. 

KEG noted that silencing the media is the clearest sign of a government that fears the same citizens it's supposed to lead. 

"It is the action of a regime more interested in control than accountability, more invested in secrecy than transparency, and more determined to suppress questions than provide answers," the statement read in part. 

"Article 34 of the Constitution of Kenya guarantees freedom of the media. That freedom is not a favour granted by the state; it is a right earned by the people of Kenya through decades of struggle, sacrifice, and resilience. No authority has the power to unilaterally revoke it."

While advocating for press freedom, KEG reaffirmed that the nation would not be dragged back into an era of state censorship and media blackout. 

"We remind the government that history has judged harshly those who muzzle the press. Kenya has walked this path before and paid the price. We will not allow a return to that darkness."

The KEG president demanded that the CA restore all broadcasting signals of all affected media services to guarantee press freedom as enshrined in the Constitution. 

The statement comes amid CA's order on all TV and radio stations to stop airing the Wednesday protests that marked the first anniversary of the anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests. 

To enforce the directive, CA officials, flanked by police officers, stormed media houses' transmission stations in Limuru to switch off the live coverage.

Currently, signals of NTV, Citizen TV, KTN and K24 have been switched off on the ADN platform.