Masked policemen shut down Kenya's second largest media group early Thursday in Nairobi, two days after three Kenyan journalists were detained without charge for a story about the country's president, the Associated Press (AP) has reported.
The closures targeted the country's oldest newspaper, The Standard, and the Kenya Television Network (KTN). It appeared to be the first time in recent history that a Kenyan government has shut down the operations of a major media company.
Dozens of masked men in unmarked vehicles raided the editorial offices and the Standard's printing plant, taking computers and transmission equipment, damaging the presses and setting fire to Thursday's editions.
Staff were kicked and beaten and forced to lie on the floors as offices were searched and equipment taken away, the Standard newspaper said on its website. "They kicked us as we went down, they frisked our pockets and took our belongings," one member of staff said. A similar raid was carried out about an hour later at the group's newspaper presses in the capital's industrial area. Thousands of copies of Thursday's edition of the newspaper were dragged out into the yard and set on fire.
"This is a blatant attempt to undermine the freedom of the press in this country guaranteed by the constitution. It is also intended to paralyse our business," said Tom Mshindi, the chief executive officer of the Standard Group. No formal complaints have been made against the paper and no charges filed against the journalists.
The newspaper, however, did hit the streets some minutes after two in the afternoon and the KTN followed later. Leaders scrambled for copies of the special editition which beared a big headline reading "Shut Down."
KTN was back on air at exactly 2pm � 12 hours after the raid of the station's offices. Managing Editor Faridah Karoney said the dismantled equipment was soon put back by staff engineers. The station was using computers from other departments to relay news after the invasion, she said. The raiders forced their way into the transmission room and took away a computer and disabled power units and cables, stopping transmission. They also took away computers used by journalists and damaged the surveillance cameras to hide their identity.
The Minister of Information, Mutuhi Kagwe, told journalists Thursday morning that he did not order the raid and knew nothing about it. A government spokesman said a press conference would be held later in the day.
Subsequently, however, Internal Security Minister John Michuki said the raids on the Standard group were designed to protect state security. "If you rattle a snake, you must be prepared to be bitten by it," Michuki said. Witnesses said that the policemen, who wore balaclavas, were part of a crack unit that usually tackles violent criminals.
The raid alarmed Western donors, already concerned by graft scandals that have forced three of President Mwai Kibaki's ministers to resign, according to a Reuters report. The US embassy denounced the "current campaign of vilification and harassment of selected media" and said such "acts of thuggery have no place in an open democratic society".
Another statement from 28 Western embassies called the raids "an unprecedented attack on the freedom of the media in Kenya". It urged the government to immediately investigate "what eye-witness reports suggest were cases of assault, theft, unlawful destruction of property, kidnapping and harassment".
"This police operation is completely unacceptable", said Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). "These methods are unworthy of a democracy. The journalists who have been detained should immediately be released and the authorities should explain themselves over this attack". "If the government has a quarrel with the media that's one thing, but nothing can justify this brutal police raid," the press freedom organisation said.
Ezekiel Mutua, secretary-general of the Kenya Union of Journalists, called the raid "shocking." He said in a statement, "It is the most outrageous and sinister act against the media we have seen. This is designed to create fear among journalists and punish the Standard Group which is seen as supporting the opposition. There is no doubt that this has been orchestrated by the government." Mutua said the arrests were part of a wider scheme to undermine press freedom and are directed at The Standard because of its critical stance against the governing National Rainbow Coalition party.
Mutua said the police on Tuesday summoned The Saturday Standard managing editor Chacha Mwita, news editor Dennis Onyango and journalist Ayub Savula and questioned them about the story. The journalists remain in police custody, and authorities have yet to comment about the detentions.
The raid came two days after the police detained three Standard journalists over a report on Saturday last alleging that the President had held secret talks with Kalonzo Musyoka, a former environment minister who was fired for campaigning against a draft constitution that would have increased Kibaki's powers. The draft was defeated in a referendum last November.
Kibaki's press office and Kalonzo himself denied that the meeting took place. The Standard did not apologise, but promised to investigate allegations that the story was "planted" for cash � a practice that has bedevilled the Kenyan press for years.
The three detained journalists � the weekend edition's managing director, Chaacha Mwita, news editor Dennis Onyango, and reporter Ayub Savula � were charged in court Thursday with "publishing false rumor with intent to cause alarm to the public." They pleaded not guilty and were released on bail. The case will be heard on April 24.
A Times report said after a dossier exposing high-level graft was leaked to the press in January, newspapers such as the Standard have run daily accounts of how some Cabinet ministers allegedly colluded with businessmen to defraud the country of tens of millions of dollars. Three top Cabinet ministers were forced to resign last month.
Finance Minister David Mwiraria, Education Minister George Saitoti and Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi were named in the so-called Anglo-Leasing and Goldenberg scandals, amidst public and donor pressure for Kibaki to deal with the misuse of public funds. Those piling on the pressure include opposition figures like Lalonzo Musyoka.
Goldenberg involved the loss of public funds through a bogus gold and diamond export scheme. The Anglo-Leasing scandal followed the commissioning of a non-existent company to print new passports and build a modern forensic laboratory for the police. The scandals come at a time when the government and its partners are struggling to feed 3.5 million Kenyans facing severe food shortages due to a prolonged drought.
Until now, the Kenyan press has enjoyed widespread freedom � a fact that has won President Kibaki many plaudits. But as public dissatisfaction with his rule has increased, so has the government's intolerance of media criticism.
Last week, the publisher and three journalists from the Weekly Citizen were charged with a criminal offence after running a front-page story with the headline "Kibaki senile", a reference to rumours that the President's mental health was affected by a car accident on the eve of his 2002 election victory.
The severity of the action against The Standard, a respected newspaper that is part-owned by former President Daniel Arap Moi and sells 100,000 copies a day, was more difficult to fathom, the Times wrote.
Kibaki succeeded Moi on a reformist platform in 2002 but many Kenyans said the media crackdown smacked of Moi's strong-arm tactics. "In the Moi days we blamed Moi and his henchmen for such acts. In 2002 we chased him and his hooligans out of town, but it seems Kibaki wants to take us back to those dark days," media commentator Tom Mboya said.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) protested at the "outrageous" and "dictatorial" raid. "Even were the newspaper to be at fault in some way over the story, there are other ways to deal with this," its Africa coordinator Julia Crawford said.
