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Kenya’s government is being sued by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the country’s legal professional association, for contracting a local newspaper to solely publish and distribute government advertisements through a weekly supplement.
The LSK claims the move to centralize government advertising in the newspaper, The Star, will stifle media freedom and limit public access to information in contravention of several Constitutional provisions.
The suit comes a fortnight after Semafor Africa exclusively reported that executives at two of Kenya’s largest media houses — Nation Media Group (NMG) and Mediamax — had discussed potential legal challenges to the government’s award of the tender to The Star, which threatens to cost them millions of dollars in potential revenue amid a financial downturn in the sector. The government supplement, MyGov, was previously co-distributed by Nation, Standard and People Daily. Government advertising accounts for around 30% and 40% of the revenues of newspaper houses.
Media executives who spoke to Semafor Africa claimed the move by President William Ruto’s administration was meant to hurt their ability to keep the government accountable.
The government defended the award of the tender, saying the process was above board and noting that The Star’s bid was much lower than those of its rivals. Prof. Edward Kisiang’ani, principal secretary in the information, communications and technology (ICT) ministry, said The Star’s two-year contract was worth 9 million Kenyan shillings ($63,000) per weekly edition, compared to Nation’s bid of 28 million shillings ($194,000) per weekly edition and Mediamax’s bid of 23 million shillings ($159,000) per weekly edition.
The High Court in Nairobi on Monday ordered for the ICT ministry and National Treasury to be served with court papers regarding the matter.
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The award of the tender raised eyebrows as The Star only controls 3% of newspaper readership in Kenya according to the Media Council of Kenya, compared with 56% for The Daily Nation and 22% for The Standard, both of whom also sought the government contract. The Star made its Tuesday edition, which contains the government supplement, completely free of charge in a bid to boost circulation.
“Granting only one newspaper the exclusive right to publish information emanating from the government does not serve citizens’ right to get this information most easily and (in) the most widely published medium,” the LSK argues in court documents, further questioning The Star’s circulation outside the capital Nairobi.
Martin’s view
The challenge by LSK represents the latest in a long list of legal hurdles Ruto’s administration has faced while trying to implement its policies and projects, fueling his public feud with the judiciary and vow to defy court orders.
Faced with the threat of losing their piece of the public advertising pie, media stakeholders who have over the years grown accustomed to the government’s significant contribution to their bottom lines are likely to throw their weight behind any challenges against the government’s move to centralize advertising. This is made especially pressing by declining earnings across the board, and the fact that they are yet to develop alternative revenue streams to make up for lost government income.
But with Ruto’s government already planning to slash overall advertising by 47%, and the global decline of print, they will be forced to accelerate development of other potentially sustainable income streams in areas including subscriptions and events.