Should We Now Prepare for a Standard-like Raid On Political Blogs Based Within Kenya?
The time has come for Kenyans and especially those who realize how important press freedom is, to stand up and be counted.
Shortly before 1 pm Kenyan time, today, former Nation crime editor Stephen Muiruri was picked up from his office by people who said they were policemen. They searched his office and took away some items with them. It will be interesting to see what the former Nation crime editor will be charged with but there is a very high likelihood that it will have something to do with the publishing of anonymous information about an alleged sex-for-promotion scandal within the Nation media group. If indeed this is going to be the sort of charge preferred against Muiruri, then every Kenyan must be deeply concerned and voice strong objection against the move.
Why?
Because recent positive developments on the web that have given Kenyans real press freedom for the first time and this is something that has really been worrying the powers that be. Through the Internet, Kenyans can now obtain information that the controlled media can never publish. For instance through this blog, many Kenyans have discovered for the first time, the real horror of crime in the country that has been kept well hidden from the public. The most recent example of this is the horrifying rape that took place during the hijacking of a Coastbus at Emali as it headed for Mombasa from Nairobi last Saturday night.
But what must have really scared the people who run things in Kenya is this exposing of sexual misadventures at the work place. Kenyans will remember the incident during the Kanu days when a young woman claimed that the then powerful Minister of State Julius Sunkili had forced her into sex right on the carpeted floor at the offices in the plush office of the president building. She even produced a child called Dennis whom she claimed was sired by the powerful Kanu minister.
The case of the former South African Vice president who admitted having sex with a woman who is HIV positive is even more recent.
You can be sure that these sort of things happen all the time in the offices of those who run things in Kenya. And you can imagine the kind of panic going on there now as web sites and blogs continue to expose things. And that includes this popular blog. This site has recently experienced an upsurge in traffic from strange IP addresses and you can be sure it is some of these powerful people wondering if they have been exposed yet. The truth is that they have reason to fear. I have received many emails in recent times detailing all sorts of sexual scandals in leading respected private companies in the country. It is only a matter of time before we start receiving such information from government offices of the high and mighty.
The arrest of Muiruri could be an ill-advised move to check these developments in press freedom, because the former Nation crime editor has been for a long time linked to the Nation anonymous writers who have exposed an alleged sex-for-promotion scandal that has shocked Kenyans. This is despite Muiruri vehemently denying the any involvement.
But even more worrying is the fact these blogs could prove to be very powerful forces in influencing public opinion and voting during the forthcoming general elections.
I will inform you of the latest on this development as I receive details.
Join me in condemning any attempt to harass or intimidate Stephen Muiruri and any other bloggers writing anything about the country from Kenya. If any of them are guilty of defamation than let those who have been wronged prove that the information is false and sue accordingly for damages (although the defematioon laws in the books are crazy and require offenders to pay sums like 20 million in damages).
I have read this article with a lot of sorrow to my fellow open minded kenyans. But let the goverment and other organizations that think they can use their muscles to oppress this freedom know that their websites and all their information in the web are not safe either. Now you understand how..................
ReplyDeleteBe strong my fellows.
so finally the big guns have descided to do something about the sharp,stinging thorn in their flesh!yeah,they finally came up with a verdict to try and freshen their pong filled rooms,however no matter what devices,measures and intimidation methods the government or other institutions use to seal and keep their secrets it wont and will never work,we the kenyans are aware of whats happening and long are the days when people on the villages would wait for the learned elite of the village to read the newspaper and letters for them,no, we are an elite society,oppression of the media and individuals who try to speak out against immorality and oppression has and must stop.Yeah they think that just because they have arrested one individual that they have gotten rid of the "problem",opps!read the writing on the wall,freedom of speech and the truth does not end up with the arrest of Muiruri,they are dead wrong for this will only add more fuel to the already hot blazing flames,by virtue,if the press defames any one,then just follow the law,press charges,it doesnt take calculaus mathematics to figure out that!Finally if the government was seroius enough on containing the information then it would have been much wiser to have arrested Muiruri and at the same time switch off all the countrys internet servers,because this arrest will make all of us watch the nation media scandal, as well as other scandals VERY VERY CLOSELY!
ReplyDeleteI am almost certain that they will find something other than the sex scandals to charge muiruri with because those nation bosses are sex maniacs to boot and can't stand close scrutiny of their sexual lives and sexual harrassment.
ReplyDeleteWe will watch this closely, and regardless of the turnout, if even 10% of what the blog says is true, which it is anyway, nation deserves a class suit action for all the women that have suffered in that company. Even their editorial in support of women's international day was forced and it's coverage of the day wanting. Maybe we should all just boycott nation.
Grotesque!! I fear that if they know you Chris, they have every chance of maligning you in the gutter press. they are capable of paying some deranged writer to do that.
ReplyDeletePlease be careful. it is sad tha even Gitahi talks about your blog and we are discouraged from visting it. Please Chris. This is inside info. Tuko na wewe.
Sensitise the colleague Muiruri case please. What proof is it that it is him.
Lets support Muiruri. He will end up in a very bad shape. Nation are a bad group to tackle
The government has done it again, having both feet stuck in the mouth. What a primitive show of might in silencing the media. While the world press have splashed Morgan Tsangirai's humilation in the hands of senile Mugabe, Kenya is threatening to outdo Zimbabwe.
ReplyDeleteMuiruri has seen enough hell and why waste a bullet on a dangling body figuratively so to speak. Being an election year, this couldn't have come a wrong time. Whoever authors spins for this government must have been weaned on colonial mentality. They can count hundreds, if not thousands, of votes lost in solidarity with the defenseless.
Kibaki's propensity to shoot itself in the foot is unparalleled and we must stand up as a nation to shine light in all the dark shades of our leadership. Journalists's role in this is irreplaceable and we only keep quiet at our own collective peril.
Attempt to intimidate the date in this era of information highway is not only destined to fail but is also symptomatic of what dinosaurs we have for leaders. Why waste tax payers money in harassing honest Kenyans answering to the working nation call while murderers rome unhindered maiming and raping innocent Kenyans in Mt. Elgon. Ours is a country in the 21st Century led with models of the 1960s. We must reclaim our motherland from these fraudsters in demanding freedom of the press lest we perish both individually and severally.
Its a big shame for Kenya's leading media house, whose dirty scandals have been exposed. Arresting Muiruri does not solve the issue. The whole world already knows what has been going on. I call for the resignation of all those who have been implicated in the scandals, to pave way for investigations and because they lack moral authority to be in the fourth estate! It is totally disgusting to know what is going on.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI am deeply concerned about the tactics the establishment is using to threaten the free disemination of information. It is very likely that you are already a target considering the popularity of this blog. Are you prepared to stand up for press freedom?
Well, i think you are. I am fully in support. Its high time we show the establishment that 'people power' truly exists. Continue with the good work!!!
I am saddened by the government continuance of serving "some selected masters" and using its force to make sure that the truth is not told.
ReplyDeleteI believe Mr Muiruri has done nothing wrong. His only crime is to resign from NMG.
I agree with you Bwana Ngunjiri that the "people power" truly exists, thats why the government and politicians are afraid of bloggers for this is the only channel that is left telling the truth. Lets support Muiruri, in all ways possible.
If it is indeed true that Muiruri has been arrested and the cause of his arrest is coz of the exposes on sexual scandals at NMG, then it indeed a big outright shame, and the freedom of the press continues to be at stake and the press is still at the mercy of the state. But the problem goes further than that,in the media industry especially in the developing world and more so in Africa the biggest cause of concern has been freedom of the press mostly from state interferance however its ironic how tables radically turn when a new state comes to power and a certain media house that was a victim all over sudden becomes a friend of the state, this has happened over the years, remember Kenya Times, yes and now Nation media....its time that journalist and advocates of press freedom realized there's an even bigger threat in the press and that is called proprietorial interferance, this is when the owners of the private media decide to become pro state, and every journalist who seeks to hav a different view or does not tow the line in the media house in shown the door or arrested and abandoned by the same media house they have so diligently served, in this case over some workplace orgy, kwani whats so good about NMG punany, its a shame and its time we all added "FREEDOM IN THE PRESS" to our calls for a free press, journalists should be protected from excesses that come from their employers just because they seek to tell the truth about bosses who cant keep their johnnies where they belong;with their wives, its time NMG shaped up or change their slogan...shame on them...And they are really in trouble coz online journalism in finaly catching up in Kenya, the days when they could filter and feed us their own agendas when many issues that are out there and critically affect the lives of Kenyans are trashed just coz ther hav no "comercial Value", those days are gone, and yes they will now experience what the media can do in the hands of the people,i say REVOLUTION lets make this few rich reckon with the power of the masses they hav called the underpriviledged.
ReplyDelete...Keep blogging...n solidarity to Muiruri and many like him out there....