The Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi has affirmed his support for practising journalists in the country.
In a tweet on Friday, the speaker said that the National Assembly had no intention of muzzling the rights of the media as stipulated in the law.
"Happy that our engagement coincides with the International Day to End Impunity Against Journalists which is celebrated every 2nd of November. At the @NAssemblyKE have no intention whatsoever to muzzle the rights of the media as guaranteed by the law. @KenyaEditors @MediaCouncilK (sic)," Speaker Justin Muturi said.
The speaker's support for media rights will come as good news for players in the media industry.
The Kenyan law guarantees the freedom of the media in Article 34.
"The State shall not--(a) exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium; or(b) penalise any person for any opinion or view or the content of any broadcast, publication or dissemination," the article says.
That does not mean that there have been no incidences where the government has muzzled the media.
In 2018, after the mock inauguration of veteran opposition and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga, scores of media stations were taken off air over their coverage of the event.
The government justified the highly controversial move by saying that the media stations had violated the law by giving publicity to an illegal event.