Outrage as Police summon Standard boss, KTN reporters over Westgate

October 24th 2013 at 23:34

 Hooded gunmen raided Westgate Mall last

month, killing 67 people and wounding several

others according to official reports.

[PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

inShare

By MOSES MICHIRA and CYRUS OMBATI
In what could be the first assault on media freedom under the Jubilee government, police have targeted the Standard Group over a report aired on television station KTN. Police are seeking the Group’s Chief Executive Sam Shollei and two KTN journalists, Mohammed Ali and John-Allan Namu, over the investigative report on the Westgate Mall terrorist attack.
Police delivered summons to the Standard Group Centre on Mombasa Road on Thursday, requiring the three to present themselves to Kilimani Police Stationon Friday.
Head of Kilimani CID George Ojuka said police had wanted the three to appear before them on Thursday but were informed that Mr Shollei was out of town.
Police summons signed by Mr Ojuka addressed to Mr Shollei and copied to the two journalists compel the trio to report to him this morning to answer to charges of “unlawful sending of misleading messages”.

The misleading messages apparently refer to an investigative series run on KTN titled “Zilizala la Westgate” and “Wolves at Westgate”.
Ojuka alleges that the series, which offered insights into events at the mall after the Al-Shabaab gunmen struck, was not factual. The journalists relied on CCTV footage that captured events inside the mall during the siege and which had been widely broadcast both locally and internationally.
“…I do require you Sham (sic) Shollei to attend before me George Ojuka, the DCIO Kilimani at Kilimani CID offices situated at Kilimani Police Division, Nairobi, on Friday the 25th day of October at 0900 hours,” read the summons.
SLIPPED OUT
The officer warns that, “failure to comply with this requisition comprises an offence.”
The investigative series raised questions about official accounts of events during the Westgate siege. The footage at one point showed the four gunmen looking relaxed in a section of the mall before one moves the CCTV cameras. Questions were raised about whether they slipped out of the mall unnoticed. More contentious footage shows soldiers carrying white plastic bags. Authorities have explained that the soldiers had taken bottles of water to quench their thirst. Questions were also raised about the cause of the extensive damage to the building after three floors collapsed.
Police said they have launched investigations into the source of the Westgate Mall footage that showed soldiers carrying items from Nakumatt Supermarket
Nakumatt boss Atul Shah was summoned by police investigating the incident on Tuesday, and appeared before detectives at the Kilimani CID offices for about an hour.
Yesterday’s police action against the Standard Group came a day after Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo threatened the two journalists with arrest.
It also comes just a week after High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi ruled as illegal the State-sponsored 2006 raid on the media group’s offices and awarded it Sh5 million as compensation.
HOODED GUNMEN
In the raid, hooded gunmen set upon staff, switched KTN off, carted away equipment and burnt copies of The Standard newspaper that was rolling off the press at its Likoni Road premises.
The Internal Security minister at the time, John Michuki (since deceased), alleged that the media house was about to disseminate information that would have undermined “national security”.
On Wednesday, Kimaiyo seemed to be reading from the same script – claiming that the journalists were not patriotic in the manner in which they covered the Westgate issue, and accused them of incitement and propaganda. On Thursday, the Standard Group legal team sought confirmation from the police chief about the identities of individuals who had sent text messages summoning the two for interrogation.
The Group’s lawyers protested the action noting that, “summons by text messages is not one of the methods contemplated under the law.”
The action by the police sparked outrage from rights groups, including a state rights watchdog, media practitioners and political leaders, who condemned the harassment of journalists and termed it a breach of media freedom.
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK), the industry’s regulatory authority, said it was aggrieved by Kimaiyo’s threats of arrest and prosecution, saying there were proper channels to address grievances by any party regarding journalistic work.
Harun Mwangi, the chief executive of MCK, said during and after the Westgate attack, the media did an excellent job of informing the country about the national tragedy.
“The journalists have not committed any criminal offences; Kimaiyo’s complaints border on the impact that the coverage generated,” said Mwangi. “We would expect him to present his complaint to the council if he needs any recourse, but we cannot entertain intimidation and curtailing of media freedoms.âTom Rhodes, the regional co-ordinator of the Committee for Protection of Journalists, said Kimaiyo and the state are trying to prevent the media from reporting on issues that affect everyone, such as security.
“We find it absolutely ridiculous that the journalists would be investigated. Why doesn’t the report focus on probing the attack rather than the messengers?” Rhodes posed.
He added that the country would be far worse without an independent media.
Media practitioners are protected by law under Article 34, which prohibits the state from “controlling or interfering with, exercising control over or interfering with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium”.