Thika town residents have expressed their concern over the switching off of the main media stream houses from analogue to digital, terming it as ‘ukoloni mamboleo’.
NTV, KTN, Citizen TV and QTV went off air on Saturday, after the Communications Authority of Kenya allegedly ‘raided’ their transmitters in Limuru, and switched off their analogue equipment.
The public have raised mixed reactions, saying the government is trying to control Kenyans by putting the interests of international firm ahead of local firms.
Martin Okundi, a resident and businessman in Thika town said that the government is out to harm local businesses, which have already invested billions of shillings and employed thousands of workers.
He said that it is a way of being under colony for attempting to put their programmes on a Chinese-owned digital carrier, who are westernized.
James Kamau, a mechanic in Thika also expressed his concerns with that the government is trying to deny the public independence sources of news and information, bearing in mind that the four TV stations adds up to almost 90 percent of viewership in Kenya.
“These three channels sum up to 90 percent viewership in Kenya, and the government is trying to infringe the rights of information in Kenya,” said Kamau.
He further said that instead of the government employing people; on the other hand it is resulting to unemployment, which is a major cancer that eats up the country.
Another resident, John Kabue, a pharmacist in Witeithie estate, said that the switching off of analogue transmission was to force Kenyans to put their channels on either Pan Africa Group (Pang) or Signet, which he said is being colonized by the western countries.
He insists Kenyans have no money to cater for the viewership of TVs, adding that they can not focus on paying for TV services, yet they have not paid rent or put food on their tables.
“Kenya is one of the most independent, professional and profitable media companies on the continent, that is why it has attracted the interests of international entities such as those from china and the government has allowed,” said Kabue.