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Applying
double standards
by John Kamau, Rights Features Service
(September 8, 2000)
A Nairobi court was told on September 6 that the seizure of broadcasting
equipment belonging to Citizen Radio and Television was "illegal
and malicious."
 Citizen
Radio, which has been in the news for the best part of the year
in its struggle to get back its rural areas broadcasting frequencies,
moved to court recently to stop the government from "secretly"
selling the station's equipment which had been lying at the Customs.
Nairobi lawyer Dr.
Gibson Kuria told Lady Justice K. Rawal that the Kenya Revenue
Authority was "applying double standards" by asking Citizen Radio
and Television owner Samuel K. Macharia to pay Kenya shillings
250 million (US$357,428) as customs duty.
Disputed equipment
The Kenya Revenue Authority
had initially demanded Kenya shillings 180 million (US$2,571,428)
when a ruling party operative and President Daniel arap Moi ally,
Jared Kangwana, had claimed that he owned the equipment. But when
Macharia went to court and won the ownership battle after Kangwana
dropped ownership claims, "Kenya Revenue Authority increased the
customs duty on the equipment," the court was told.
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Citizen
Radio owner S. K. Macharia accused the Kenyan government
of secretly trying to sell telecommunications equipment
that he says belongs to him.
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Kangwana had wanted
to use the equipment to set up Kenya Television Network. Later
he fell out with President Moi and the station was snatched first
by the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) party, which
claimed ownership, and then "bought" by President Moi's sons together
with State House-related power-brokers.
On August 17, when
the case was brought to the High Court, Citizen lawyer Kibe Mungai
had told Justice Michael Khamoni that the government was "secretly"
trying to sell telecommunications gear imported by Citizen Radio
and Television owner, Samuel K. Macharia.
The judge directed
the matter to be heard on August 28 but was later switched to
September 6.
Observers say that
the refusal to hand over the equipment to Moi allies may be the
genesis of the problems Macharia's Citizen Radio and Television
is finding itself in.
In an affidavit filed
in court Macharia says that he had learned that the Commissioner
of Customs in collusion with an unnamed "third party" had invited
telecommunications experts from Acrodyne Industries of the U.S.
state of Pennsylvania to advise on the equipment's value to sell
it.
On September 6, the
judge concurred with the Citizen lawyers that the mater should
be heard urgently and fixed the hearing for September 28.
Alleged nonpayment
of bills
Citizen Radio has been
in court for the best part of this year after its transmitters
were switched off on allegations that it had not paid its frequency
bills and on accusations that its broadcasts were jamming other
frequencies.
The true story is that
Citizen had challenged the dominance of the state-run Kenya Broadcasting
Corporation (KBC) the only radio hitherto allowed to broadcast
in the countryside and had challenged the state propaganda in
the rural areas where majority of Kenyans reside.
Although Kenya has
several FM stations they all operate in Nairobi.
The switching off of
Citizen Radio and Television has meant that KBC is the only radio
heard in the rural areas.
Not reconnected
In July, Kenya's Court
of Appeal (the highest in Kenya) refused to order the reconnection
of the station transmitters and restoration of its broadcasting
frequencies pending the hearing of the full suit. The High Court
has still not listed the matter as urgent meaning it will be heard
at the discretion of the court.
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ALSO OF INTEREST...
Citizen
Radio is not the only media outlet in Kenya which has run
into problems with the government.
Kenya's
Kikuyu-language Kameme FM 101.1
radio defiantly continued to broadcast in vernacular,
although two other stations obeyed a presidential ban.
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The Court further upheld
a February 29 judgment by the lower court that refused to restrain
Telkom Kenya, Communication Commission of Kenya, and KBC from
interfering with Citizen's facilities and frequencies.
A former confidant
of President Moi, Macharia — from the Kikuyu tribe which
dominates the opposition — fell out with the president after
he failed to have Moi make in-roads into the Kikuyu tribe despite
leading a high level campaign soliciting for votes in the Central
Provinces of Kenya. Macharia was the chairman of a lobby group
that campaigned for Moi during the 1997 general election.
It was after he fell
out with Moi that his station was at first accused of broadcasting
"anti-government messages" — which in the Kenyan political
jargon means giving the opposition politicians a forum. The accusations
were later twisted and the station was accused of broadcasting
from the wrong site and for failing to pay broadcasting fees leading
to the current court cases.
The station owner,
S.K. Macharia insists that he has paid all the fees arrears and
dismissed the issue as a "camouflage."
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