Raila Odinga, a former prime minister, has ended his boycott of The Star Newspaper.
Public outcry over his appeal for his fans to stop purchasing and reading The Star Newspaper led to this.
Raila’s proposal for a boycott was criticized by MCK, the Kenya Editors Guild, and the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) as being harmful to independent reporting.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Raila revealed that his coalition had decided to end the boycott of The Star following discussions with the necessary parties.
Instead, the Coalition, in accordance with Odinga, would complain to the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) in order to vent its concerns on the claimed biases by the Radio Africa Group-owned organization.
“After speaking with several parties, we decided to end our boycott of The Star Newspaper. We have complained to the MCK about the biases in the article, Odinga said at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Nairobi.
Raila also criticized the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) for issuing a letter, sent by its Director General Ezra Chiloba, instructing media outlets not to air certain moments from the mass action protests.
The Azimio Chief claimed that the decision to restrict media coverage of the large-scale protests was an assault on press freedom and a barrier to the media’s ability to strengthen democracy.
In addition, Odinga characterized the move as an effort to install a dictatorial regime, contending that it was made to avoid public checks and scrutiny by the press.
Raila committed to support the media outlets named in Chiloba’s letter as they carried out their duty to enlighten the public.
