President William Ruto on Sunday, April 2 dismissed claims of a media shutdown ahead of the planned mass action protests on Monday.
In his state of the nation address, Ruto maintained that his government would not interfere with the role of the fourth estate despite the media being biased against the government.
He assured the media houses covering the addresses that all broadcasts would go on as usual on April 3 and thereafter.
"Take it from me, Kenya has come a long way and the era of switching off is behind us. I have said we will support the right of the media to carry out its functions.
"We will support whatever you are doing, but I am sure that if we exchanged positions, and you were standing where I am, you would have done it, but we will not," he stated.
The Head of State condemned the attacks on the media during the coverage of the mass picketing exercise terming it unacceptable.
However, he argued that journalists who sustained injury were caught in the crossfire between the protesters and the police. He assured that any intentional harm brought upon journalists would be dealt with.
"In the context of the demonstrations, we all agree that there has been a lot of violence against many citizens and in that confusion, there could be incidences where the media was caught in the fray.
"I do not think there was any deliberate attack on the media and if there was, we would be opposed to it and would deal with it," Ruto remarked.
His sentiments came after journalist unions demanded answers over the spate of attacks by journalists by police officers.
Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) Executive Director of the Patience Nyange petitioned the government to compensate journalists who were injured or had their equipment destroyed while covering the protests.
She further demanded the apprehension of officers who attacked journalists. Nyange threatened that if no action was taken, the media would stop covering government events.
On his part, the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary General Erick Oduor declared that journalists would march to the streets on Wednesday, April 5, if any of their colleagues is attacked during the protests on Monday, April 3.
