President-elect William Ruto’s move to grant KBC exclusive rights to cover his inauguration ceremony has sparked a sharp debate on media freedom in Kenya.
The government Sunday announced that Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) would exclusively cover the inauguration ceremony of Ruto, slated for Tuesday.
“We will bring you the best coverage of the swearing-in of president-elect Dr. William Ruto on Tuesday,” KBC announced on its Twitter handle.
The KBC announcement came as the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta and President-elect William Ruto met for the first time at State House Nairobi where the Kenyatta’s welcomed the Ruto’s and gave them a tour of their soon-to-be residence, as part of the administration transition.
MultiChoice’s DSTV also confirmed that a Pop-up channel would live stream Ruto’s inauguration. All private media houses will be required to buy the coverage from KBC.
This move has not gone down well with Kenyans and brings back echoes of former President Daniel Arap Moi, who used KBC as his mouthpiece. Through KBC, Moi made sweeping government announcements, such as sacking cabinet ministers or announcing major policy changes.
Whereas some think that the move is a great move to revive KBC, others speculate that it is a move made in a wrong way, and it might go a long way to crawl back the gains made in freedom of the media in the country.
Ruto has in the past decried the sad state of the national broadcaster and promised to revamp it as President.
There is a perception that the move is aimed at punishing the local media for purportedly supporting Raila Odinga more than Ruto in the just concluded campaign period.
In the lead-up to the August 9th general election, Ruto complained many times over what they said was media bias in their coverage.
Ruto claimed this gave him a disadvantage over his competitors, notably Odinga. The former prime minister was said to have been overly favored by most local media.
The speculations were so loud that at some point, Ruto’s supporters nicknamed Citizen TV “Azimio TV.” It is worth noting that S.K Macharia, the mogul who owns Royal Media Services under which Citizen TV falls, was rooting for Odinga’s presidency and even attended some of his election campaigns.
In response, the President-elect labeled the Kenyan media as merchants of fake news and propaganda. However, it is not the first time an incoming President has differed from the media. President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose term ends tomorrow (September 13, 2022), often showed a lot of contempt for the press and even said that “newspapers are meant for wrapping meat.”
However, it is also a fact that KBC has been doing dismally as a business and in audience capture. Many people ditch it for other privately-owned media houses because KBC is perceived as the government’s mouthpiece.
Like many corporations, the national broadcaster has been making losses, even though it has been running advertisements. Thus, those who opine that the move to give KBC exclusive rights to air the highly publicized inauguration feat is just the beginning of getting the media house out of the mud where it has remained stuck for years.
Robert Alai, the MCA for Kileleshwa and blogger for Odinga, hailed the move. “I am happy that Ruto is giving KBC the level of prominence it should get,” Alai said. “Private TV stations must never destroy the national broadcaster by taking all the government business.”
The MCA claimed that KBC has excellent content but was destroyed during President Mwai Kibaki’s tenure as President.
Ferdinand Omondi, a senior BBC journalist, read malice in the move by Ruto. “You can make KBC great again but not through temporary euphoria, he said on Twitter. “Stop cheering impunity. You’re next.”
The journalist however said that the local media needs post-election scrutiny, perhaps over the belief that they were unfair in their coverage.
Daniel Onyango, through Twitter, said that the new government is putting things in place to weaponize the state media.
Journalist Abuga Makori said the move by Ruto’s government would not harm private media houses because they are already established.
“Royal Media of SK Macharia survived turbulent moments during the Moi administration when Media freedoms were limited. Even if they make KBC great again, private media will survive. Power is transient,” Makori said.
Still, others believe that the apparent campaign to transform the state media might fail to catch the attention of Kenyans, who are the primary audience. This group believes Kenyans can cheer on the campaign to make KBC great but still fail to watch or listen to it.
“Remember, we’re the same people who lied to Wajackoyah that we’re fully behind his presidential bid. Now they are the same people chanting make KBC great again while watching Citizen TV,” tweeted a user called Omwamba Kenya.
Those who are for the move said Ruto is correct because the national broadcaster is funded by the taxpayers’ money and thus should earn revenue.
Mwihaki Nganga opined that the move to revamp the state media should not jeopardize the freedom of the press.
“I just want Freedom of Media to be respected, let media houses broadcast independently without having to buy news from a government media house. Because that’s a recipe for dictatorship,” Ng’ang’a said.
Pauline Njoroge, a blogger, said changing KBC needs more than making orders and giving it exclusive coverage rights.
“They may have exclusive rights that day, but Citizen TV ends up with 3/4 of the viewership,” Njoroge said. “Reviving KBC will require a lot of thought in terms of content, management, investment in staff, technology, and infrastructure.”
Silas Nyanchwani, a Nairobi-based journalist and media consultant, observes that while it was true that some media houses showed open bias against the Kenya Kwanza alliance during campaigns, it would be unwise for Ruto to go after the media.
“On paper, revenge sounds good, and to supporters of Kenya kwanza, the media should as well be shut down,” Nyanchwani said.
Nyanchwani warns that attempting to punish the media could have far-reaching consequences that may taint the image of the President and the government of the day.
“But when you are a president of the country, the last group you want to antagonize is the established media. Royal Media, The Standard Group, and Nation Media Group are so established that meddling with them can give you short-term wins, but the losses will be too much to contemplate,” Nyanchwani said.
The journalist-cum-author says media institutions will outlast any administration, regardless of what obstacles the Ruto administration puts in front of them. Further, the Ruto administration will need the media more than the press will need the administration.
“Some intimidation here and there, some arm-twisting, that the media can survive. What cannot survive is an administration that likes PR being starved off media attention,” he said.