Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by a recent string of attacks on the media in Kenya, where your Excellency promised to strengthen press freedom and democratic institutions. Early this morning, police raided Kenya’s oldest newspaper, the Standard, and a television station owned by the Standard Group, temporarily disabling both media outlets. The raids are particularly troubling in light of events over the past two weeks, when police detained three journalists from the Standard’s weekend edition, charging them with publishing “alarming” statements, and raided two tabloid newspapers, detaining several journalists and issuing arrest warrants for four more.
New York, February 28, 2006—Police detained three journalists with the independent East African Standard for questioning today in connection with a story of political intrigue that ran in Saturday’s edition, the paper’s chief executive officer, Tom Mshindi, told the Committee to Protect Journalists. The weekend edition’s managing director, Chaacha Mwita, sub-editor Dennis Onyango, and reporter…
New York, February 21, 2006—Police in Kenya raided two tabloid newspapers on Monday, confiscating equipment and documents and arresting several journalists in the capital, Nairobi. Police also detained news vendors selling the so-called “alternative press” publications, which are known for provocative reporting on sex and political scandals. Local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists…
NOVEMBER 16, 2005 Posted: December 2, 2005 Kass FM CENSORED The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), an official regulatory body, suspended the privately owned radio station Kass FM, which broadcasts in the local Kalenjin language from the capital, Nairobi. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua accused the station of inciting ethnic hatred and violence, but local journalists…
OCTOBER 3, 2005 Posted: December 8, 2005 Anderson Ojwang’, The East African Standard ATTACKED Baraka Karama, Kenya Television Network (KTN) HARASSED, THREATENED Ojwang’, a correspondent for the independent daily The East African Standard, was beaten by youths bearing whips and sticks while trying to cover a government-organized meeting in the western town of Kakamega. The…
New York, April 5, 2005—The managing editor of the Nairobi-based East African Standard’s Sunday edition was acquitted of criminal charges yesterday. The charges against David Makali, pending since 2003, stemmed from an investigative article about the alleged murder of Dr. Crispin Odhiambo Mbai, a key player in Kenya’s constitutional reform process. Nairobi Chief Magistrate Aggrey…
Kenya The government of President Mwai Kibaki, whose December 2002 election ended 24 years of rule by the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party, struggled in 2004 to keep its election promises of ending corruption and boosting the economy. It failed to meet deadlines for adopting a new constitution, which Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition (NARC)…
JANUARY 13, 2005 Posted: February 8, 2005 Kamau Ngotho, The East African Standard HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Journalist Ngotho was charged with criminal libel in a Nairobi court in connection with a story he wrote in the January 8 issue of the daily East African Standard detailing alleged links between the government of President Mwai Kibaki…