Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and his ICT counterpart Joe Mucheru are set to face contempt of court charges.

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This is after the High Court in Nairobi dismissed the Communications Authority of Kenya’s (CA) application seeking to have activist Okiya Omtata’s contempt of court petition against government officials set aside.

Omtata had on Monday filed a petition that sought to have Matiang’i, Mucheru and other government officials charged with contempt of court for failing to suspend the media shutdown that affected NTV, Citizen and KTN television stations.

Omtata moved to court after the government shut down the three TV stations for covering NASA leader Raila Odinga swearing-in as the people’s president on January 30.

The Authority’s lawyer, Wambua Kilonzo, had argued that setting aside of Omtata’s application would allow the case to be heard.

Kilonzo said examining Omtata’s application would amount to time wasting, considering the government had restored the stations’ signals.

Justice Chacha Mwita in his ruling said the named government officials will not be allowed to choose when to comply or disobey court orders.

“The court would want to hear the alleged technical hitches which resulted in non-compliance with the court orders,” said Justice Mwita, as quoted by Citizen Digital.

Others named in Omtata’s petition include ICT PS Sam Iteere, his Interior and Treasury counterparts Karanja Kibicho and Kamau Thuge respectively, as well as CA board of directors chairman Ben Gituku.