ODM and the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) engaged in a Twitter war following allegations attributed to opposition leader Raila Odinga accusing the state-broadcaster of denying them coverage.
Mr Odinga’s accusation touched off a bitter Twitter exchange between his party and KBC on Thursday afternoon with tweeps joining in the fray.
The national broadcaster claimed that it did not receive an invite to cover the presser stating:
“@OdmAlert KBC was not invited to your function and even your media officers have decided to switch off their phones as proof of guilt.”
ODM in response said the media liaison had invited the broadcaster but they chose to boycott: “@KBCChannel1 I saw Tags Here to you from the Com Director, He usually does that and you cover events but yesterday’s you deliberately ignored.”
MEDIA SHUTDOWN
The discussion went on with the broadcaster tweeting: “@OdmAlert We maintain we were not invited. Show us evidence to the contrary. Normally @EtalePhilip calls. This time round he didn’t.”
They added that this took place after the party leader Raila Odinga stated that they were not receiving coverage from the channels on the digital platform, “Raila bashed KBC, coincidentally, we were not invited to the ODM presser. Was it intentional? We did not give them a blackout #ODMTantrums.”
The spar comes days after the opposition cancelled its planned launch of its referendum Draft Bill, citing the ongoing television blackout caused by a dispute over digital migration.
Mr Odinga said Tuesday that the media shutdown that has engulfed the country was an indication that the ruling coalition was determined to roll back all the democratic gains made by Kenyans since independence.
He faulted the state-broadcaster for giving the opposition minimal coverage despite being among the few channels on air.
