President William Ruto's administration through the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy on Friday reported the People Daily Newspaper to the Media Council of Kenya (MCK).
This comes after the media house in its Wednesday, September 4 newspaper edition published a front-page story under the Headline “How Ruto lies killed Nithi 12“. This was after 12 people died in a grisly road accident at Nithi Bridge on the Meru-Embu highway on September 1.
President William Ruto had on previous rallies pledged that the government would fix the bridge that had on multiple occasions been identified as a blackspot. However, this had not yet been realized. The media house used that as a basis to formulate their headline.
However, People Daily and its parent company Mediamax argued the decision to report it to MCK was because of bold coverage on the Kenya Kwanza administration.
People Daily has described the government's move as an attempt to not only intimidate journalists at the publication for fact-checking the President but a threat to media freedom.
"The government has reported People Daily newspaper to the Media Council of Kenya for publishing stories critical of President William Ruto or other government officers," K24 posted on Twitter.
In a report, Broadcasting and Telecommunications PS Edward Kisiangani asked the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) to restrain the publication and its writers from publishing similarly contemptuous articles about the presidency, or other government offices.
“This office seeks your intervention to institute any further action against the publishers of this article, in line with the existing laws and regulations that may serve as a deterrent measure against future similar journalistic misbehaviors.” Kisiangani's complaint to MCK read.
On September 1, twelve people lost their lives at the Nithi Bridge black spot. A section of Kenyans went ahead to unearth a video of President William Ruto promising to fix the bridge once he was elected.
The clip, shared widely by netizens, captures Ruto speaking with a sense of urgency, vowing that the deadly bridge, infamous for countless accidents, would be swiftly attended to.
“The section of the busy road is a big threat to travelers and the only solution is to redesign it,” Ruto said during the campaign period.
The promise is yet to be fulfilled two years later.
