Dr.Fred Matiang'i, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology
The Kenyan government has announced the gazetted date of December 13, 2013, for digital migration in the country’s capital Nairobi and its surroundings still stands as scheduled, despite reports it had been postponed again.
In a statement released yesterday (Monday) evening, Fred Matiangi, cabinet secretary for ICT, said no conclusive decision had been reached despite earlier reports that indicated the switch to the terrestrial platform had been moved to June 2014.
“We have agreed that we will meet on the 30th of November to review the position but the date remains as gazetted because for us to change the date, we need to rescind the earlier one,” Matiangi said.
HumanIPO reported last week the government had again postponed the deadline following a successful petition by the Media Owners Association, which said the deadline was unfeasible and all the stakeholders were not on board.
Ezekiel Mutua, information secretary, said then that the Media Owners Association presented a strong petition against the December 13 switch-off after meeting President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Matiangi, however, denied the media reports saying all stakeholders were involved on arriving at the December deadline.
“The switchoff dates were arrived at after consultation with stakeholders involved under the auspices of the Digital Television Committee (DTC) where the membership of DTC comprises Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, Communications Commission of Kenya, consumer organisations, Media Owners Association, signal distributors and set-top box vendors,” Matiangi said.
The cabinet secretary said the government reiterates the urgency to migrate so that Kenyans can earn the “digital dividend which accrues from the digital migration”.
He said that the recently launched consumer awareness campaign will inform and educate Kenyans on the benefits of migrating to the digital migration technology.
