By Mujidu Victor
The Director of Communication in the Deputy President
William Ruto’s campaign docket, Hussein Mohammed has officially announced that
Kenya Kwanza will not comply with the presidential debate program until the Royal
Media and Services (RMS) reforms their coverage.
Deputy President led the
Kenya Kwanza Team during a political rally ain Makueni County.[Image
Twitter/@William Ruto]
In a statement issued yesterday by Hussein, Royal Media
Services converted its media platforms into an Azimio La Umoja synergy.
According to Hussein Mohammed’s press release, media
platforms that deliberately sail the Azimio La Umoja campaign and polarize the
Deputy President’s push are Citizen Tv, Inooro TV, Inooro Radio, and The Daily
Nation.
He added that the stations have undermined the statutory
terms of the license and violated constitutional freedom through unequal
coverage and negative structuring of the Kenya Kwanza Presidential Candidate
and his allies.
“We wish to highlight the notorious instance of
runaway abuse of public bandwidth by Royal Media Services a licensee which has
converted its platforms, especially Citizen Tv, Inooro Tv and Inooro Radio to
official campaign mouthpieces of the Azimio La Umoja. The Daily Nation complements
these abuses by becoming their print counterpart. Under the current partisan
media environment, we have advised our candidate against participating in the
presidential debate,” the statement read in part.
The former Citizen Tv journalist noted with great concern
that although the stations obligate nefarious intentions and practice
inconsequential actions, Kenya Kwanza demand fair play as a matter of right as
well as professional decency.
His statement comes weeks after Kapseret member of
parliament Oscar Kipchumba Sudi slams Citizen Tv for allegedly backing Raila
Odinga’s campaign agendas. In the snider statement of Sudi, he quoted that the
spotted outlets should stop covering William Ruto’s stories.
The mixed signals between the offended political leaders
and the few media stations alarmed the Media Council of Kenya which defended
the editorial independence of journalists and media houses.
The Media Council explained that all media practitioners
were regulated by the codes of ethics and conduct. The MCK CEO David Omwonyo
cautioned politicians not to invade the media houses, stating that such
scandalous brims amount to incitement.
“We advise politicians and the public that Kenya’s
media and journalists are guided by a professional code of conduct, with
sufficient mechanisms for self-regulation, both as an industry or at a personal
level,” MCK stated.
However, the Kenya Kwanza attitude comes three months
after the media owners, editors guild, and MCK announced that the Presidential
Debate will take place beginning July 2022.
