(NDIMA/IFEX) – On 21 December 1998, Kenya’s largest selling daily, “The Daily Nation”, published by the Nation Media Group, was barred from covering proceedings at the Akiwumi Commission investigating the causes of the tribal clashes which rocked the country between 1992 and 1997. The inquiry was appointed by President Moi this year and is currently […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – On 21 December 1998, Kenya’s largest selling daily, “The
Daily Nation”, published by the Nation Media Group, was barred from covering
proceedings at the Akiwumi Commission investigating the causes of the tribal
clashes which rocked the country between 1992 and 1997. The inquiry was
appointed by President Moi this year and is currently hearing evidence in
Nakuru in the Rift Valley Province.
The commissioners made the decision after the assisting counsel, Bernard
Chunga, complained that the paper had published reports which amounted to
contempt for the Commission.
Chunga urged the commissioner to summon the paper’s chief editor to justify
why action should not be taken against him over the reports. He also said it
was improper for the general secretary of the national Council of Churches
of Kenya (NCCK), the Rev. Mutava Musyimi, to have made copies of the reports
he had earlier presented to the commission, and on which the “Nation” based
its story, available to the press.
The commission directed Musyimi to appear before it and explain why action
should not be taken against him. Musyimi and the “Nation”‘s editor are to
appear before the commission on 5 January 1999.
Chunga said the NCCK’s reports were the Commission’s property and should
“not have been used recklessly.” He said the commission should have been
consulted before the reports were published by the newspaper. “‘The Daily
Nation’ should be excluded from covering proceedings until the editor shows
cause why action should not be taken against them, for contempt of the
commission.”
“I am advised that this Commission has in the past, and on several
occasions, cautioned newspapers to report correctly to make them abide by
this warning, I am asking the Commission to take a decisive action against
the ‘Nation’ and be excluded from covering the proceedings.”
Earlier, when the proceedings started, Chunga drew the commission’s
attention to the 18 December issue of the “Nation” which contained the
previous days’ proceedings.
Meanwhile, the “Nation” clarified the assertion from its 18 December edition
that NCCK’s general secretary Musyimi had implicated cabinet ministers,
politicians and other individuals in the instigation of clashes while
testifying before the Akiwumi Commission. The newspaper admitted the
statement was erroneous and premature. The clarification stated that Musyimi
had submitted the said reports much earlier, but they were not read and
their contents were not discussed at length during the commission’s
proceedings in Nakuru. The newspaper apologised to the Commission, counsel
and those injured by the report.
