With this being the era of media freedom, there is bound to be friction between media companies and the government in situations where one feels like the other has crossed the unspoken boundaries in their quest for expression.
Many programs have caught the government's keen eye over time, but none as much as the XYZ show on Citizen TV in its infancy stages in 2009.
In the episode that caught the government's attention, several leaders including the then President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Deputy President Kalonzo Musyoka and Agriculture Minister William Ruto, were implicated in various scandals that were rife in the country at the time..
"As soon as that episode ended, my friends were calling me to see if I had been arrested," the creator of The XYZ Show, Godfrey "Gado" Mwampembwa told the British magazine The Guardian, in 2009.
Public Services Minister Dalmas Otieno complained in a press conference on August, 11, 2009, that the Kibaki puppet in the show had had its nose twisted by one of the characters, and that the show, in general, had mocked other top politicians over time.
"Every Sunday brings us what is called the XYZ show. It portrays in bad light the President, Prime Minister and other ministers who have been victims of this means of exploring satire to make money," he complained.
He categorically stated that the show was not reflective of the image of public delivery in the country and urged the media to stop abusing its freedom and portraying a negative image of the country's public identity.
Aides to then Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka are also reported to have complained to Citizen TV about their boss being shown "giggling like a schoolgirl" and questioned if the show was politically motivated.
The complaints did not end with politicians, however. Wachira Waruru, the managing director at the TV station reported that members of the public also weighed in with reservations of their own.
"We had people calling the station straight away to say it was taboo to talk about politicians having sex. Others said we were disrespecting their leaders by making them say stupid things," The Guardian reported.
Ezekiel Mutua, then Director of Information & Public Communications, however, took a different point from other government leaders, stating that the show was a portrayal of the growth of media freedom in the country.
He also urged the members of the press to be open to criticism given the amount of freedom that they had in their hands.
The show has over time gone on to satirize almost everyone of note in the Kenyan political and social circle, including Jeff Koinange, PLO Lumumba, Uhuru Kenyatta, Chief Justice David Maraga and even enigmatic businessman Jimi Wanjigi. It now airs on NTV.
