Former Nation Journalist Appeals To MPs To Pass Media Bill

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Although I do not support the passing of the proposed Media Bill in any way, former Nation crime editor has some interesting points to raise here about the hypocrisy of the so called mainstream media.

It is for this reason I could not resist publishing the following letter which has gone out to all MPs urging them to pass the media bill without being intimidated by the media houses.

Stephen Muiruri
P.O Box 872 City Square
Nairobi
Tel. (20) 3751672
Email: smuiruri2000@yahoo.com
July 9, 2007

To
1) All Hon Members of Parliament
Kenya National Assembly
Parliament Buildings
Nairobi
Through
2) Mr Samuel Ndindiri
The Clerk
Kenya National Assembly
Parliament Buildings
P.O Box 41842, Nairobi Kenya
Email: bunge@swiftkenya.com

3) Hon Mutahi Kagwe
Minister for Information and Communication

4) Hon Koigi Wamwere
Assistant Minister for Information and Communication

5) Hon. Amos Wako
Attorney General
Sheria House
P O Box 40112
Nairobi.
Email: info@ag.go.ke

6) Hon. Martha Karua
Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs
Sheria House
P.O.Box 56057-00100 GPO
Nairobi
Phone: +254-(0)20-342787
Fax: +254-(0)20-316321

Dear Hon Members of Parliament,

RE: WHY YOU SHOULD PASS THE MEDIA BILL
As the debate on the controversial Media Bill enters a crucial stage tomorrow, I wish all the MPs will have had a chance to read my letter on why they should passed the Bill into law. However, I urge the MPs to enact a law that is aimed at promoting quality journalism and hold media practitioners accountable for the news they feed the public but not one which criminalises the industry and the profession. And I’ll use my own personal experience with two top executives at Nation Media Group to illustrate the hypocrisy in the media and why media managers would prefer to continue operating under the law of the jungle.
I resigned as the Crime Editor of the Nation Media Group in February after it became evidently clear to me that the two executives had been colluding with the Commissioner of Police, Maj Gen Mohamed Hussein Ali, to arm-twist me to misinform Kenyans on the real security situation in the country. They wanted me to play down the coverage of crime and security matters but I stood my ground about being truthful. Being a professional journalist and being faithful to my employer and Nation readers cost me my job at Nation.
The two groups made various attempts – including the police chief writing scandalous letters to NMG management about me - to arm-twist me. But I refused to play ball and insisted I would continue to discharge my professional duties as guided by the principles of journalism. I had the full support of Mr Wilfred Kiboro when he was the CEO.
But things took a dramatic turn when Mr Linus Gitahi took over from Mr Kiboro upon retirement. Mr Gitahi and Mr Wangethi Mwangi, the Editorial Director, now ganged up with Maj Gen Ali and they did not hide their intentions – either I play down the growing insecurity that has continued to grip the country or else I would be shown the door. Their “requests” lacked professional legitimacy and they were driven by personal interests.
Not a single day did I give in to their demands. This did not go down well with the three and they had to hatch a plot to get me out of the way. Both Mr Gitahi and Maj Gen Ali launched simultaneous investigations – they thought it was behind my back but I was fully aware of what was going on – and on February 1, 2007, I was facing a hostile Mr Gitahi and a panel of six other top executives in his office to answer charges of why I owned a tours and travel company. I was also accused of having bought a vehicle from the Kenya Police.
Although I presented official documents from the Kenya Police, Kenya Revenue Authority and the Kenya Police-appointed auctioneer, which clearly showed I was not the owner of the vehicle, both Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi were not interested in my side of the story. The truth of the matter was that the vehicle in question had legally been bought by my relative after meeting all the legal requirements set out by the auctioneer and the Kenya Police.
The vehicle was among more than 100 unclaimed vehicles sold by the Kenya Police through a public action in 2005. Maj Gen Ali, though his representative, signed the letters for sale confirming each of the buyers had met all the requirements. The letters were copied the Registrar of Motor Vehicles telling him the Kenya Police did not have any objection to the registration of the vehicles.
Despite the documentary proof, Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi, without offering alternative proof, claimed I had bought the vehicle and alleged that that amounted to conflict of interest. Which Kenyan law bars anybody from buying a vehicle or any other property put up for public auction? In Nation, the matter is worse. All vehicles being disposed of are sold internally and the public is never invited to present bids. Isn’t that a very clear case of conflict of interest?
After the meeting, Mr Mwangi was instructed to write me an internal meeting asking me to show cause why severe disciplinary action should not be taken against me over the matters above. I opted to resign and I tendered my letter the following morning. I saw no need to continue working for an employer who abandoned his flock to please an outsider for personal reasons. I was also aware that Mr Gitahi was merely fulfilling the wishes of the police chief, whom he had met privately soon after Nation’s Board of Director announced he was to replace Mr Kiboro.
The meeting, whose agenda was to plot how to kick me forced out of Nation for continuously exposing crime and malpractices in the police force, took place weeks before Mr Gitahi formally took up the new job. The meeting was arranged by Ms Rose Kimotho, the proprietor of Kamame FM. She is known to both Mr Gitahi and Maj Gen Ali. Acting on behalf of Maj Gen Ali, Ms Kimotho had during Mr Kiboro’s made countless telephone calls to my bosses asking them to contain me in vain.
After I resigned, I reported to my company and started working there. I had not settled down before I was subjected to the worst harrowing experience I have ever suffered in my life. About 15 police officers from CID Headquarters and Parklands police station raided the offices of my company on March 14, purportedly to carry out investigations on the authors of anonymous emails that had been circulating in the internet exposing alleged sex scandals involving a section of senior Nation Media Group managers.
The squad, under the command of the then officer-in-charge of Economic and Commercial Crimes Unit, Mr Jeremiah Ikiao, was led to my offices by Nation’s Group Security Manager, Mr Sam Koskei, who personally supervised and coordinated the two-hour raid. Afterwards, I was arrested and taken to CID Headquarters on Kiambu road. Mr Koskei escorted the police convoy in his private vehicle and I overheard him ordering the officers to lock me up in custody.
After Mr Koskei left, the officers told me they were only executing orders from Nation Media Group managers and their boss, Maj Gen Ali. Mr Koskei’s presence in my office on March 14 and his conduct as the officers were ransacking drawers and cabinets was enough confirmation that NMG was totally behind the barbaric raid. He kept threatening and intimidating me.
Under the supervision of Mr Koskei, the officers turned my offices inside out, dismantled the computer in the secretary’s office and disconnected the internet. They took away the CPU, the ADSL Modem, a Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife licence, a Nairobi City Council licence, the Certificate of Incorporation and bundles of documents. It appeared the aim was to totally cripple my business since almost all the items they seized – especially the licences – had nothing to do with the matter they were investigating. The police raid was meant to cripple me financially and the operations of my company.
At CID headquarters, the police hurriedly drafted a charge sheet and I was being accused of having sent an offensive email from my company offices to Mr Gitahi, claiming he had demanded sex from one of Tusker’s project fame finalist. The offence was allegedly committed at 9.07pm on February 27, 2007. Luckily for me, the Attorney General intervened and I was released as I was being booked in at Kileleshwa police station. The AG also called for my file. I had been under arrest for close to nine hours.
I never sent the alleged email to Mr Gitahi and neither had I seen it until it was shown to me by the investigators afterwards. In fact, on the date I was alleged to have sent the email I had left my office at 4pm to take my son to hospital and I did not return to the office until two days later. This is the fourth month since the police raided my offices and they have not yet returned any of the property they seized from my offices.
I have no doubt that Maj Gen Ali, Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi were framing me with a crime I had not committed because they wanted to hit back at me for failing to give into their demands and for resigning from Nation. I was not the only party aggrieved with Nation’s leadership. Before I resigned, anger was boiling in the newsroom due to the inhumane manner in which Mr Gitahi retrenched a group of 13 journalists, three months after he replaced Mr Kiboro.
A survey that had been done amongst Nation journalists by the HR Department in the month that Mr Gitahi was appointed had passed a verdict of no confidence in the leadership of the Editorial Department. I could not understand why the employer I had served so faithfully for 11 years could single me out without any tangible evidence and treat me like a top criminal by sending a police squad to my offices.
A section of the MPs opposing the Media Bill have frequently been citing the March 2, 2006, raid on the offices of the Standard Group as a classic example of how punitive laws could cripple the media. The MPs argued that somebody could have used such a law to legitimize the Standard raid and warned that similar state-sponsored raids could be directed at other media houses soon after the new law was passed. I decided to use my experience in the hands of Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi to illustrate the hypocrisy in the media industry. Media managers in Kenya have adopted a holier-than-thou attitude but rarely apply on themselves the same moral bench mark which they measure other people.
If Nation managers could use the police to cripple a private business to settle scores, how are they different from the Government officials who sent a police squad to the Standard Group offices? The irony of it all is that Nation and its managers have been standing on a moral high ground lecturing the Government on the need to adhere to the rule of law only for them to turn around and resort to the rule of the jungle. Which other media house in the world can send a police squad to raid a private business? If the raid on the offices of the Standard Group was wrong, then the Nation-sponsored raid on my offices was equally wrong.
While other media houses covered the story of my arrest, Nation opted to give it a blackout. Nation was in the fore front in condemning the Government for raiding a media house. The Nation then relied on me to expose the police squads and the top Government officials who were behind the Standard raid. To my credit, Nation did a better job than even the bereaved – the Standard Group. Nation managers should be the last people to resort to the rule of the jungle knowing the high moral ground they have taken pretending to be the watchdog of the society.
One of the arguments being advanced by the media houses – especially Nation managers – in opposing the Media Bill is that there are other laws that aggrieved parties could turn to if they were offended by what was published or aired about them. They also cite the toothless Media Council of Kenya – which was set up by media managers – as an avenue the aggrieved parties could turn to.
From my 11 years experience at Nation, I know the Media Council of Kenya was set up by media managers to hoodwink the public that any complaints against the media were being taken seriously. The truth of the matter is that the Council is a delay tactic employed by the managers to allow the aggrieved parties to cool their tempers naturally before they loose interest in seeking legal redress.
From an insider’s knowledge, I know Nation editors never carry an apology or clarification from an aggrieved party until they get a demand letter from a tough and furious lawyer. And even in such cases, the editors ignore most complaints no matter how valid they are. They only carry hidden apologies when they realize the aggrieved party is determined to go to court.
If the argument that there is an alternative laws to punish journalists and media houses which publish or air falsehood is to be taken seriously, why then didn’t Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi (who were listed in the charge sheet as the complainant) never turn to the law on defamation if they strongly felt that I had written the alleged offensive email?
Since Nation has been so critical to the police whenever they use the law on criminal libel to punish those suspected of having defamed other individuals, why did Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi use the same police force to raid my offices over an issue of purely civil nature? Why would the energy of 15 police officers be wasted for a whole day to settle personal scores yet Kenyans are being butchered without any police presence?
I’m fully aware that Maj Gen Ali and Nation chiefs have desperately been trying to unlock the deadlock that was imposed by the AG’s office when he asked for my file. The police found themselves in a tight corner since they know they couldn’t take me to court unless they were given authority by the AG’s office. I have also written to the AG explaining why Maj Gen Ali and Mr Gitahi are so desperate to see me behind bars. I’m waiting for a response from him so that I can get my property back.
If my letter to the MPs will provoke another police raid in my offices or give Maj Gen Ali and Mr Gitahi an excuse to push through the earlier fake charges, I’m well prepared for any battle ahead. The truth must be told no matter how painful it is. We must be ready for persecution for the sake of safeguarding the truth. Media houses – more specifically the Nation - always advocate and preach the truth gospel yet the editors and managers are not willing to be measured by the same parameters.
I would not be surprised if Mr Gitahi and Mr Mwangi and their sympathisers dismiss this letter as a case of sour grapes. That is expected of media managers. The truth is only sweet when they are exposing public officials but it hurts them so much when the same is done to them. I’ll continue speaking out my mind until I get justice for the barbaric police raid on my offices. I hold no grudges against Mr Gitahi, Mr Mwangi or Maj Gen Ali. I’m ready for any consequences for demanding justice.
Lawyers, doctors, surveyors and other professionals have laws that govern their professional conduct and I don’t see why the media houses are so paranoid when the same is demanded of them. What is so special with media houses that they should be law onto themselves? Doctors and nurses perform noble tasks of saving lives and yet they have no problem being under legal control. But media houses want to remain a law onto themselves since they know they will use the vast resources at their disposal to frustrate the course of justice when sued. In most cases, only the mighty and the rich manage to raise legal fees to hire lawyers to file defamation cases against the offending media house. The poor majority suffer in silence when their rights are trampled upon by the moneyed media houses.
For one to be an advocate, the law stipulates the specific qualifications to be met. The Media Bill being debated in Parliament sets out clear qualifications that one should have to qualify to be a journalist. Why are media houses opposed to that? In the prevailing circumstances, anybody can become a journalist and arrogate himself or herself the sole right to pass judgment on other people regardless of their education, competence or moral standing.
In the absence of a known criteria of hiring journalists, media house opt to go for cheap labour in order to continue exploiting journalists. The worse exploited are correspondents – who contribute a majority of what is published daily. This group, which comprises journalists on casual terms with media houses, is poorly paid and they are paid per lineage of what is only published. So, if you write a story and it’s never published, you will go home empty handed while the managers are bursting with huge pay.
Kenyans might not know it but there are many correspondents in a big company like Nation who take home less than Sh5,000 after working for a whole month. This state of affair has encouraged corruption in the newsroom since the poorly paid journalists have to approach news sources for handouts to make ends meet. If only qualified individuals were allowed to practice journalism, professional journalists would negotiate better terms with their employers and quack journalists who flood the job market would find themselves looking for other careers. Can anybody be a doctor, a nurse, a lawyer or another other professional unless they are qualified to do so?
It has recently become a tradition for media houses to hire the so-called celebs as presenters and in FM stations and news casters in TV stations. First, the celebs are not trained journalists and they have no idea what fair reporting means. You can’t listen to any of the FM stations for more than 30 minutes without hearing a presenter or their participants using defamatory or vulgar language.
If we were to believe the sex scandal dossier that was unleashed by disgruntled Nation journalists a few months back (I personally believe most of the things that were said were true), it is clearly evident that few of the media managers can pass a simple kindergarten moral test. The public also have a right to judge the media managers and editors and demand they first practice what they preach.
If they can arrogate themselves the right to scrutinize both private and public lives of other individuals, why are they so paranoid to be subjected to the same scrutiny? To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, I once wrote a story on a police swoop on prostitutes in Nairobi (I wont mention the story for legal reasons) and what happened afterwards taught me some bitter lessons I had not learnt in journalism before.
The story I wrote and left in the computer had substantially been changed and foreign material added by the time it was published two days later. I later came to learn that two of Nation’s top editors had decided to add some more details in my story to make it juicier. The repercussions brought about by the story are a matter of public knowledge. What became so shocking to me is the amount of resources and time Nation has been spending since then to defeat the course of justice in the false belief the aggrieved parties will loose the defamation cases they filed in court.
By the time I resigned, I, Mr Mwangi, Mr Joseph Odindo and lawyers representing Nation had held countless meetings to plot how we were going to coach our “defence”. Since I was not to blame for the material that landed Nation in court, I was contemplating to spill the beans in court when Nation called me as its prime witness. Luckily for Mr Mwangi and Mr Odindo, I resigned before that time came and they don’t have the guts to call me after what happened in February.
As I have written before, Mr Mwangi flatly refused to take the witness box when the lawyer warned us that we would be subjected to thorough moral scrutiny by lawyers of the other parties if we were not “clean” ourselves. Mr Odindo and I were to take the witness box. Mr Odindo was jittery when Mr Mwangi insisted he had to represent him. I had not problem myself. Why did Mr Mwangi develop cold feet?
Many other stories are made juicer or facts twisted deliberately by both journalists and senior editors to suit a certain agendas. Most of the aggrieved parties who choose to register their complaints with the respective media house or the Media Council of Kenya find it frustrating after being tossed from one person to another. Finally, nothing happens and most complainants give up due to these frustrations.
I know most MPs who are opposing the Media Bill are not doing so because they know the media is as clean as snow. They are doing so either to be seen to be opposed to a Government initiative or to be in good books with media houses. Politicians depend on media to sell their ideas or propaganda to the public and most of them fear to step on the toes of media house for fear of being given a blackout or humiliating coverage.
Journalists and their editors are not angels. They in most cases choose to give good coverage or a blackout to a politician or any other person depending on how you relate with them or how generous you are with your wallet. For instance, media houses have perfected a selective approach of exposing corrupt individuals. This is what happened in Nation in exposing those behind the Anglo Leasing scandal. Powerful editors often killed damaging stories on Anglo Leasing touching on their relatives, friends and associates. What the public has never known is that there are many vested interests in the newsrooms and the news that reaches them is mostly tailored to suit certain motives and agenda.
I urge all MPs to stand solidly behind the sovereignty of Parliament and refuse to be arm-twisted or blackmailed by media managers who feel threatened by Media Bill. A classic example is a deliberate campaign that has been spearheaded by Nation chiefs.
However, I appeal to MPs to introduce amendments to protect journalists and media houses which discharge their duties professionally. The aim should not be to crimalise journalism, the freedom of press and freedom of speech. The law should hold journalists and media houses accountable for their actions and make them more responsible and accountable for their actions. Just in the same way lawyers are held accountable for all their transactions with their clients, media practitioners should not fear to be subjected to the same test.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Muiruri
Former Crime Editor, Nation Media Group

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