Following the near three-week shutdown of four leading television stations, Raila Odinga, the leader of Coalition for reforms and democracy (Cord) accused the government of muzzling the press in the melee that has been the digital migration in Kenya.

In an article that appeared in the Daily Nation this week, Odinga said that the government has sinister motives under the guise of digital migration.

"Governments that want to institute dictatorship start by dominating and directing the media and information systems. How the media system is structured is, therefore, a significant indicator on whether a nation is democratising or sliding into a dictatorship," Odinga said suggesting that the country is sliding back to the 80's and 90's were there was a tight leash on media.

In response, the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Technology, Dr. Fred Matiang'i refuted these claims.

"We have over 118 regulated TV stations. Over 40 of those are on the digital platform. In fact the regulator (Communication Authority) said that applicants are seeking to have more stations on the digital platform," the CS said on the sidelines of the first national innovation forum which kicked off on March 2.

"We in Nairobi have the highest number of correspondents for international media in Sub Saharan Africa. We are not cracking down on press freedom," he added.

"My president and his deputy have more followers on twitter than viewers of the Nation [TV]. Jubilee government cannot be cracking down on media," Matiang'i said, brushing off the claims.

The ministry has been in the middle of an ongoing battle with three media stations, Royal Media Service, The Standard Group and Nation Media Group on the forceful shutdown of their analogue systems, after a court ruling ordered the digital migration.