Serikali Mangaaa!! How cops walked into Radio Africa to switch off KTN

Piece by: Grace Kerongo
Lifestyle

Raila Odinga's swearing in was not without drama.

At about 10.30 am on Tuesday four plain clothes police officers walked to the reception of Radio Africa Group.

They identified themselves as officers from Spring Valley Police post and said they urgently needed to talk to the Bamba TV general manager or his assistant or the broadcast manager.

And just then, Kamal Vekaria, head of innovation, Radio Africa Group, walked in, oblivious of what was happening.Vekaria was previously in charge of broadcasting.

“Initially they were asking for the head of broadcast and for me. Coincidentally, I was on the third flour because we had just heard that Citizen had been put off air so I had gone there to discuss with the rest of the engineers,” he said.

“As I was going to my office on the second flour, a staff member called me. Then an officer immediately approached me and grabbed me roughly.

Two plain clothes officers had radio call handsets and one was a Communications Authority official.

Vekaria said at first he thought something controversial had been posted on his social media account or he was under investigation.

Police identified themselves and said they were here to shut down KTN , which is aired on Bamba TV, he said.

“The officers were being quite pushy and said they urgently needed to shut down the station as fast as possible. I left the officers with the engineers who were told to ensure the channel is taken off,” he said.

Once they were sure the channels had been taken off, they left the building.They threatened to come back with a warrant of arrest if anyone dared to switch on the station.

-The Star