(NDIMA/IFEX) – According to NDIMA, on 17 October 1998, Kenyan government cabinet Minister Shariff Nassir warned that the ruling Kanu party would no longer tolerate what he called “insults from the press.” He told certain newspapers and magazines, which according to him were guilty of “specializing in hurling insults at President Moi and the government”, […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – According to NDIMA, on 17 October 1998, Kenyan government
cabinet Minister Shariff Nassir warned that the ruling Kanu party would no
longer tolerate what he called “insults from the press.”
He told certain newspapers and magazines, which according to him were guilty
of “specializing in hurling insults at President Moi and the government”,
that their days were numbered. “We shall set their printing presses on fire.
We shall make sure that no vendor will touch their papers,” thundered Nassir
while addressing a press conference at his Palli House office in Mombasa. He
also threatened that the governing party would teach all newspapers which
report negatively about the Kanu party a lesson they would never forget.
Nassir claimed that in Kenya today, people are taken for fools if they
behave in a civilized way. He asked Kanu supporters to start attacking
instead of being on the defensive. “Days of keeping quiet are over. I have
even told the President that he should stop being soft. The time is ripe for
all loyal Kanu members and sympathisers to start attacking instead of
waiting to be attacked and then defending themselves,” he said.
