(NDIMA/IFEX) – On 10 July 1998, Mr. Imanene Imathiu, a correspondent for “Nation”, Kenya’s leading English-language daily, which is based in Meru (in Eastern Province, northeast of Nairobi) was treated at a local district hospital for injuries sustained following a beating. Imathiu had been investigating allegations of corruption in an administration police camp. His camera […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – On 10 July 1998, Mr. Imanene Imathiu, a correspondent for
“Nation”, Kenya’s leading English-language daily, which is based in Meru (in
Eastern Province, northeast of Nairobi) was treated at a local district
hospital for injuries sustained following a beating. Imathiu had been
investigating allegations of corruption in an administration police camp.
His camera was also damaged in the attack.
Imathiu was among a team of journalists who had talked to the local
administration officials regarding the allegations.
As the journalist was taking some pictures of an alleged victim of an
extortion syndicate, some Administration Police (AP) officers accosted and
assaulted him. They kicked, pushed and pulled the journalist towards a cell
in the chief’s camp as he shouted “kill me, but you cannot take my camera.”
In the Administration Police cells, he met the detained victim of the
syndicate, Mr. Anthony Gikabi.
In a separate case, on 11 July 1998, unruly youths seized and burned copies
of the “Nation” in the streets of the capital city, Nairobi.
The move followed recent threats made by members of an opposition political
party, the National Development Party of Kenya (NDP) that they would
destablise The Nation Media Group’s operations.
The group of 25 men seized the newspapers from unsuspecting newspaper
vendors and burned an unknown number of copies. At least six newspaper
vendors operating in different parts of the city lost copies of newspapers,
which were either set ablaze or carried away. Police later promised to
investigate the incident.
The group also collected or set ablaze the unsold copies of the paper’s 10
July edition, which the vendors were preparing to return in the morning.
The vendors said a total of 1040 copies of the newspaper were lost. They
said that when they asked why the youths were collecting the newspapers,
they said: “We cannot allow this newspaper to spoil our name. Our
co-operation with Kanu (the ruling party) should not be interfered with.”
In its 10 July edition, the “Kenya Times” ran a story quoting a NDP Member
of Parliament (MP) accusing the “Nation” of “evolving a cryptic editorial
policy bordering on ethnic chauvinism that seeks to cast [the] NDP, its
leader Raila Odinga and the Party’s MPs in a negative light.”
