The government has finally broken its silence following the BBC Africa Eye exposé, Blood Parliament, sharply criticising the British broadcaster over the revealing documentary released on Monday.
Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura offered the remarks on behalf of the government during a press briefing at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on Tuesday, where he revealed that the government had reached out to the broadcaster.
According to Mwaura, the government was concerned with the issues raised in the exposé and revealed that the government had written to the BBC in London, expressing its reservations about the misrepresentation of facts in the story.
Further, he lashed out at the media house for failing to accord a proper right of reply to the government, a position he maintained could lead to an incitement of Kenyans.
''Those who did the exposé should have been fair; they should have sought the government side of the story for a fair representation,'' Mwaura added. This is despite the BBC indicating it reached out to the government and the institutions named in the documentary, including the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
Meanwhile, the government also issued an apology to the families of victims of the Gen Z anti-government protests, which resulted in the loss of lives and injuries of numerous young Kenyans.
The spokesperson added that the IPOA was already working on the cases following a statement released by the authority on Monday on the progress of the same.
''We send our condolences to the families of the victims affected. However, we want to say that IPOA is on the cases and doing a follow-up, having issued a statement on the same," Mwaura stated.
The developments come after the BBC was forced to cancel its public screening of the production in Kenya due to pressure from the authorities.
However, Kenyans vowed to proceed with public screenings, as the Social Justice Travelling Theatre, in collaboration with the Kayole Community Justice Center, announced plans to show the documentary on Wednesday, April 30, in Kayole from 7 pm.
BBC had planned for Blood Parliament to be screened at the Unseen Nairobi cinema on Monday evening, with a panel discussion; however, due to pressure, the screening was cancelled.
“A screening of BBC Africa Eye’s 'Blood Parliament in Kenya' was cancelled due to pressure from the authorities,” a BBC spokesperson said.
