Government has remained tight lipped and offered no explanation on why four TV station were shutdown down the unofficial inauguration of Raila Odinga on January 30.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru on Tuesday when questioned on the matter by Senate’s Information, Communication and Technology frankly said he does not have an answer because the shutdown was a ‘national security issue’.
He told the committee chaired by Baringo Senator Gideon Moi to put the question to the National Security Council chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“I will not answer the who and why of the shutdown because I am not the one who did it. I am also not authorized to discuss security matters in the glare of cameras,” said the ICT CS according to Daily Nation.
“When the NSC invokes their actions, it is not me to respond to, it is about security of the country and the reasons they have,” he added further dashing the committee’s hopes to get a solid explanation on why KTN, NTV, Citizen and KTN News were switched off.
He also told the Senators that the issue they are pressing for is quite sensitive because it is in the court which makes it hard for him to talk about.
Before the planned swearing-in ceremony took place, reports have it that State House ordered editors in respective media houses not to televise the ceremony else their licenses would be revoked.
However, they went ahead and a few minutes into the live feed of the event, the signals were shut-down for the next seven days-and 10 days for Citizen TV.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i had earlier claimed they resorted to shutdown of the signals because media house were planning to air content that would polarize the country.