Milimani High Court has directed the Law Society of Kenya to serve Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u and Ministry of ICT Principal Secretary, Edward Kisiang’ani with court papers.
This follows a petition application by two members of the society claiming that the State has monopolised information by restricting My Gov's circulation to one newspaper.
"The Application and Petition filed herewith are extremely urgent and ought to be placed at once before the duty Judge at once for consideration, hearing and determination on a priority basis," Peter Wanjiku, an advocate of the high court, stated in his petition.
LSK has accused PS Kisiang'ani of the violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
This was after PS Kipsing'ani issued a directive to all Principal Secretaries, Chief Executive Officers of State Corporations, Semi-Autonomous and Autonomous Government Agencies, Independent Commissions and Vice Chancellors of Public Universities to restrict their advertising for the next two years to one media house.
LSK has noted that the move places other media stations at a competitive disadvantage, applying dissimilar conditions to other national media houses that were also trading parties.
"The Impugned Actions have the object or effect of preventing, distorting or lessening competition in the media or advertising industry, by controlling the printing, distribution and access of the My.Gov Publication," stated one of the advocates in their petition.
On top of this, not all Kenyans will be able to access government information, as the media house awarded the tender only distributes in Nairobi.
"Semi-autonomous and Autonomous Government Agencies, Independent Commissions and Public Universities which ought to be circulated widely and throughout the Country, the 4th and 5th Respondents jointly and/or severally publish and distribute The Star Newspaper which is not a newspaper of national circulation or reach because The Star is only circulated in Nairobi," the advocates narrated.
According to the lawyers, if the move to award the tender to one media station has to stay then the High Court should declare null and void the establishment of the Government Advertising Agency under Treasury Circular No. 09/2015 dated 10 July 2015.
Currently The Star prints and distributes 100,000 copies of the newspaper for free every Tuesday after winning the tender in late 2023.
Since the inception of the move, PS Kisiang'ani has come out to defend the award claiming that the media house won the deal under a free and fair bidding ceremony, as the star was chosen for its favourable offer that matched the government's move to cut down advertisement costs.
