Citizen TV, Radio Citizen, Inooro FM, and Inooro TV are among the most recognisable television and radio stations in Kenya. But their birth was nothing short of a battle between President Daniel Arap Moi’s regime and founder Dr SK Macharia.
Speaking during the burial of Col (Rtd) James Gitahi in Machakos on Saturday, Royal Media Services (RMS) Chairman SK Macharia revealed the battle with Cabinet Secretaries that led to the birth of RMS in 1999. “Royal Media Services was started because of Raila’s father,” he said.
According to the outspoken media mogul, RMS was created due to disappointment from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). While addressing mourners at the burial of a close friend and ally, Macharia revealed that during the 1992 general elections, he paid for advertisements for Oginga Odinga at the national broadcaster, who was challenging, among others, Kenneth Matiba.
However, KBC would not play the ads that belonged to Raila Odinga’s father. The broadcaster would, however, play advertisements belonging to Matiba, providing an unfair advantage. The two were representing different factions of the original Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) party, and Matiba would finish second while Oginga Odinga finished fourth.
“After the elections, Moi came back. I went to the Managing Director of KBC, and I told him to return my money,” he narrated, adding, “He told me they did not return money for commercials that did not play.”
But the typical man from Murang’a could not have any of that. He said no and instead offered a counteroffer to the institutions that held the rights to broadcast in the country. “You have to either return the money or you give me a licence to go and set up my own radio and television so that nobody else will ever do this to me,” he recalled.
This offer would get him kicked out of the office with a word of advice: ‘Write a letter to the Office of the President.' Being a stubborn man, he did. And he would receive a one-sentence response: “You cannot be allowed to broadcast private radio and television.”
At that time, the government maintained a monopoly over broadcasting, and applications for private licenses were either delayed or denied.
After receiving the letter, he headed to court, suing the government to get the licence and end the dominance of KBC. He would prevail in court after a four-year battle, but the Moi regime was not known for its respect of court orders.
Despite obtaining a court order directing the issuance of the license, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Johnstone Makau, and Attorney General Amos Wako did not comply. Consequently, Macharia initiated contempt of court proceedings against both officials. The court found them in contempt and sentenced each to six months in jail for their refusal to issue the licenses.
"I was called to State House and asked by President Moi, ‘Why do you want to take my ministers to jail?’" Macharia narrated.
He replied, “Because they have been told to give me a licence to broadcast private radio and television and have refused.”
What followed was a series of targeted questions by President Moi seeking to identify his intentions with the television and radio. “He asked whether I would join KANU. I was in ODM at that time, and I said yes,” he explained.
“Moi would continue, “Are you going to support me?” He responded with the affirmative, after which Moi directed the Minister and AG to hand him the licence.
Since no one had ever been issued with a licence, there was no template to use. But SK Macharia, after a long fight, could not wait any longer. He asked Makau for a piece of paper and wrote, “I refer to your application dated this and this. This letter constitutes the only licence you require to broadcast private radio and television,” stated Macharia.
With that, RMS was born with Citizen TV, which launched in 1999. The group would expand to include two more TV stations in Inooro and Ramogi. It also controls 13 radio stations, including Radio Citizen, Hot 96, Musyi FM, and others.
