Veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho has now come out to raise the red flag over the improper relationship between media owners and the government.

In his weekly column published by the Daily Nation, Gaitho stated that the Kenyan media had turned into a lapdog of the Jubilee government.

He added that media owners had not only been colluding with State House in coverage of certain events, but they were also silencing journalists who failed to toe the official line.

Media gagging

“We have not only seen media leaders collude with State House to castrate themselves in those outrageous gagging orders around Mr Odinga’s self-swearing-in but they are silencing reporters, editors and commentators who do not toe the straight and narrow official line,” Gaitho stated.

The former Special Projects Editor at Nation also used his column to warn Kenyans against the emerging dictatorship that maybe mirroring the autocratic regime in China.

According to the journalist, all the institutions that have been entrusted with protection of public interests, including the media, have failed on their job or are on the verge of losing their authority.

Delegations to China

He particularly took issue with the numerous delegations that the Jubilee Party has been sending to China, which has come at a time when the Jubilee Secretary General Raphael has been nominated to the Cabinet to “oversee implementation of the party’s manifesto”.

“This could be dismissed as Jubilee’s internal affairs but, when concurrent with moves to terrorise the legitimate political Opposition into silence, elevate the Executive and the provincial administration and ‘securitate’ apparatus above the law, and neuter the Judiciary, media, civil society and independent watchdog organs, we have to be very afraid,” Gaitho warned.

The statement from the veteran journalist came at a time when former NTV Managing Editor Linus Kaikai was reportedly dismissed over his controversial press statement criticising President Uhuru Kenyatta's order that media houses should not cover NASA leader Raila Odinga's swearing in.