Win for Royal Media Services in TV switch-off case

The High Court has dismissed an application by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) to have Royal Media Services pay costs for the suit the media house filed on February 2, 2018 over the switch off of Citizen TV and Inooro TV.

The application arose after Advocate Kuria Kamau for RMS asked the court to have the case withdrawn on the basis of a successful negotiation and out-of-court settlement.

CA’s advocate Wambua Kilonzo, however, insisted that RMS be ordered to pay costs for a case filed and withdrawn.

Justice Chacha Mwita in his ruling, noted that RMS filed the suit in good faith to fight for its constitutional rights.

“The respondent herein has applied that the applicant be ordered to pay costs in this suit, the applicant cannot be punished for exercising its constitutional rights in pursuit for justice,” the judge noted.

The Communications Authority switched off the signals for Citizen TV and various radio stations under the RMS stable on January 30 for broadcasting the mock swearing-in of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

This prompted RMS to seek redress in court, but the applicant and respondents would later hold an out-of-court settlement of the matter that saw the stations’s transmissions restored.

The court as such marked the case as withdrawn.