No more government advertisement with private media! Is State out to bring down free enterprise?

The Government has decided to set up its own newspaper through which all Government tenders, projects and information will now be printed.

State agencies and corporations have been warned that they will bear the cost of advertisements published on private media platforms.

The Jubilee government has justified this by saying it will save money that has been used to publish advertisements through private enterprise.

Understandably, private media owners are not happy with the Government's decision.

Kenya is a free enterprise economy and the private media has taken this as a blow directed at them.

The fact is that the Government is one of the main stakeholders that fund the media through advertisements, which appear daily in more than three newspapers as the law states.

While the Government is free to set up its own advertising platforms, it should be mindful of private media and support private entities.

Furthermore, the Government has not given much detail of any audit showing how much money is lost to the media through advertising.

The Government may also be going against its own rule that says state adverts should be placed in more than one publication for transparency.

Withdrawing adverts from private media is an attempt to bring down free enterprise as the state is giving itself undue advantage over other enterprises.

Are we moving into an era of a state-managed economy where the Government will control every sector at the expense of free enterprise?