Nation Media Group (NMG) brands NTV and Nation have been made to withdraw a series of news features which linked Baringo Senator Gideon Moi to a company mentioned in a corruption scandal at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
According to an official apology seen by Kenyans.co.ke, NMG regretted the error made, citing inaccurate documents misled journalists to make wrong conclusions.
On January 3, 2020, the media house published a story titled "Moi firm linked to new KPA tender scam".
Through TripleOKLaw, the senator sued NMG for defamation and sought orders compelling it to retract the story.
The feature claimed that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had launched investigations into how the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) had awarded tenders to two companies for the provision of peripheral storage facilities next to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi.
The station ran the episodes of the series days later titled "Gideon quizzed by detectives over KPA tender scam " and " A web of firms that shrouds DCI probe into port tenders " in which it sought to expose the ownership of the two companies.
The same material was also contained in NTV's news broadcasts on January 8, 2020, January 9, 2020, and March 4, 2020.
The office of the Registrar of Companies has since confirmed that the results of the search relied on by the media house were incorrect and issued in error.
The purported international company had no link whatsoever with what journalists assumed was its local subsidiary.
“In the circumstances, the subject stories were inaccurate in their material aspects. We, therefore, wish to withdraw our stories as relates to the local firm and its directors and shareholders,” read the apology in part.
The KPA scandal led to the resignation and arrest of its former Managing Director Daniel Manduku.
He was accused of allowing unlawful gazettement of Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal (NICT) as a KPA peripheral facility, which did not meet the requirements.
