Kenya’s Government Returns Some TV Stations to the Air 5, 2018 NAIROBI, Kenya — After a nearly week-old media blackout, the Kenyan government returned some television stations to the air late Monday, five days after a court order demanding their restoration "with immediate effect." NTV, which is owned by the Nation Media Group, was restored to cable and satellite broadcasting just after 5 p.m., though viewer access to the station via public television remained blocked. Government officials dismantled the transmission equipment of four stations last week as they broadcast an opposition event at which Raila Odinga, who lost an election to President Uhuru Kenyatta last October, declared himself "the people’s president." The government’s move to intimidate and censor the news media for reporting on dissent has alarmed rights lawyers and activists, who called it a stunning reversal in a country that had been praised as a shining example of democracy. Citizen TV and its Kikuyu-language sister station, Inooro TV, remained off the air on Monday, and an executive of their parent company said he suspected that the government was retaliating for a court case that the company filed against it last week. Linus Kaikai, the NTV general manager and chairman of the Kenya Editors Guild, said officials from the Communications Authority of Kenya had returned equipment they removed last week when they shuttered the stations. The partial restoration came hours after another petition was filed, asking the court to hold Mr. Matiang’i and other officials in contempt for their defiance of last week’s order to allow the stations to immediately resume broadcasting. Mr. Kenyatta had warned media outlets not to broadcast the event, which government officials said they would consider treason.
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