The Nation Media Group (NMG) was on Friday forced to apologise over a shocking advertisement placed in the Daily Nation newspaper by a group describing itself as a corruption cartel.
The classified ad was calling on Kenyans willing to secure "government tenders with no sweat" to join the group which Kenyans.co.ke established is called Shadow Cartel.
In a statement, NMG apologised for the outrageous publication noting "we highly regret and sincerely apologise for this error."
"Nation Media Group does not support or condone such advertisement which clearly goes against our mission to positively impact society's values and our editorial policy," the statement read in part.
The media house assured that individuals responsible for the ad had already been 'blacklisted'.
"We have taken immediate action to blacklist the agent and are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure that such an error never recurs," NMG noted.
NMG's Daily Nation Newspaper came under fierce attack after eagle-eyed Kenyans spotted the ad which read: "JOIN corruption cartel and win government supply tenders without sweat. 0722647593."
Kenyans.co.ke sought to find out more on the cartel and upon calling the indicated number, a man who declined to reveal his identity, disclosed that the group is referred to as Shadow Cartel and their operations were both in the National and County Governments.
When asked how they operate, the unidentified man asked this journalist to send her name, name of the registered company and the email address after which he would get back after a thorough background check.
"We will have to do a search to know that the company is registered and it must have a bank account. In cartel world you need to understand the business operates we will send you the requirement through email," the operator noted.
The Shadow Cartel operator boldly highlighted that there were tenders in every sector in the country, adding "when you talk about cartel you can get tender from any department or sector."
Here is the ad:
