(NDIMA/IFEX) – The government ban on a book by Kenyan opposition leader Kenneth Matiba entitled “Return to Reason”, imposed soon after its publication, has been lifted following a Court of Appeal decision to overturn state orders preventing its sale. **Updates IFEX alerts of 16 June 1997 and 13 December 1996** The judges allowed publication of […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – The government ban on a book by Kenyan opposition leader
Kenneth Matiba entitled “Return to Reason”, imposed soon after its
publication, has been lifted following a Court of Appeal decision to
overturn state orders preventing its sale.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 16 June 1997 and 13 December 1996**
The judges allowed publication of the controversial book five years after
the ban’s introduction, saying it contains a concise record of Kenya’s
political, economic and human rights history, and materials from articles
published in the local media and from such sources as the Controller,
Auditor-General and other government departments, as well as NGOs.
In a joint ruling delivered in Nairobi, Justice Evans Gicheru, Justice P.K
Tunoi and Justice A.A. Lakha said: “The rule that no man shall be condemned
unless he has been given a fair opportunity to be heard is a cardinal
principle of natural justice.” By so ruling, the three judges cancelled the
publication ban which was imposed by the government after the book’s
launching in November 1993. The government banned the book on 14 January
1994, prohibiting its publication after it had already sold over one
thousand copies.
In a supporting affidavit, Matiba averred that he was neither notified of
any impending ban nor called upon to defend his book, which he felt was not
justifiable in a democratic state.
