The Star Pulls Down Article After National Uproar

One of The Star Newspaper front page (left) and deleted tweet of Sunday, June 13, 2021 story.
One of The Star Newspaper front page (left) and deleted tweet of Sunday, June 13, 2021 story.
Twitter

The Star, a newspaper attached to Radio Africa, was forced to pull down a story barely seven hours after publishing it online.

This is after the opinion article titled 'Uhuru should resign or be forced out through civil disobedience' written by Henry Makori caused an uproar countrywide.

The piece had challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to resign arguing that failure to which, it called for civil disobedience against the current regime.

It further argued that most Kenyans had grown less confident in the Head of State save for Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and most recently, residents from the Nyanza region.

Deleted tweet from The Star newspaper promoting a story asking President Uhuru Kenyatta to resign
Deleted tweet from The Star newspaper promoting a story asking President Uhuru Kenyatta to resign.
Twitter

"President has turned into a dictator and is relying on the military and Luos nation support to stay in power," captioned the media house in a tweet promoting the story on social media.

Readers were infuriated with The Star's decision to publish the piece claiming that it promoted ethnic profiling.

"Ati Luos are the ones preventing you from removing the same President you gave a Birthday Cake that looked like a voter's card? The same Luos you said had no stake in your God-chosen economy? You guys will kill me with laughter one day," Nation columnist Gabriel Oguda complained. 

"The Star Kenya please write researched and properly backed articles. This an embarrassment, too low for you," added Thomas Kogolla.

This comes months after questions arose over the President's preference of working together with military officials and Kenya Defence Forces in various government positions.

Some of the projects taken over by KDF include the refurbishment of the Kenya Meat Commission, Lake Victoria Port as well as Nakuru Railway line in conjunction with Kenya Railways.

The President also created the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) headed by Major-General Mohammed Badi.

In his justification, Uhuru explained that KDF officials were straightforward and that if individuals operated the way military men did, the country could have realised success early on.

“If all of us operated and behaved, loved and served their country in the manner in which the Kenya Defence Forces does, Kenya would today be a great country. And we all have a big lesson to learn.

“I am not militarising anything. I am using reliable Kenyan citizens to fulfil my agenda for this republic. The KDF are part of us and are also part of our citizens,” Uhuru explained in 2020.

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President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) and NMS boss Mohamed Badi (left) at a Christmas event in Westlands, Nairobi on Friday, December 25, 2020
PSCU