By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI, Mar 3 2006 (IPS)

Attacks on Kenya’s second-largest media house by police have sparked widespread anger against the government, already unpopular because of its links with corruption.

“What we are witnessing is a government that is trying to silence people perceived to be critical of its system, and it has started with the media,” said Ndung’u Wainanina, programmes officer at the National Convention Executive Council, an umbrella body for organisations demanding governmental reform.

“The media has been strong and persistent in demanding accountability on the part of the government,” added Wainanina, who made the comments during a protest held in the capital of Nairobi in response to the attacks.

Representatives from more than 50 civil society groups led the demonstrators, who sang anti-government songs and displayed placards with messages supporting press freedom. The marchers also demanded the resignation of Information Minister Mutahi Kagwe, his national security counterpart – John Michuki – and the provincial police head.

Kagwe had earlier denied involvement in the attacks. These took place in the early hours of Thursday at the Nairobi headquarters of the Standard group, which owns ‘The Standard’ newspaper and the Kenya Television Network (KTN) – and at the company’s printing press in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city.

Armed police wearing masks stopping transmission of the KTN during the raid on the headquarters, also confiscating computers and broadcast equipment. The station remained off air until 14.00 local time (11.00 GMT). Staff and security guards were reportedly assaulted, and ordered to lie on the floor as police combed the premises.

The attack at the printing press took place almost simultaneously, with copies of Thursday’s edition of ‘The Standard’ being set ablaze. While the paper was not available on Thursday morning, a special edition on the attacks hit the streets later.

These incidents marked the first-ever government shut down of a mainstream media house in Kenya – although recent weeks have also seen raids against two tabloids, the ‘Weekly Citizen’ and ‘The Independent’, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. (The ‘Weekly Citizen’ had earlier published an item questioning President Mwai Kibaki’s health.)

The attacks on KTN and the printing press followed the arrest earlier this week of three Standard journalists who have since been charged with publishing false information with the intent of causing alarm. This was apparently in reaction to an article in the Feb. 25 edition of the paper alleging a secret meeting between Kibaki and a prominent former minister now in the opposition camp, Kalonzo Musyoka.

Both men deny such talks took place.

“For us to protect a free press, the free press must not be a law unto itself. We cannot be intimidated where a media becomes a law unto itself. Let every media carry its own cross when it crosses the law,” Kagwe warned, in reaction to the article.

Police have issued a statement saying the raids on the Standard group premises were aimed at preventing the media house from publishing articles likely to undermine national security.

Michuki, in charge of the police, underscored this point Thursday at a function in Nairobi when he told reporters that “The police were doing their job. If you rattle a snake, you must be prepared to be bitten by it.”

However, Mitch Odero, a member of the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), says the main responsibility of journalists is to keep the public informed – not placate government.

“The performance of the media should be judged by the citizens it serves as a watchdog,” he told IPS. The MCK was established by the industry in 2002 to improve the standard of journalism in Kenya, and to address complaints made about the media.

Of late, the media has been flooded with exposés and reports about official graft in Kenya.

The contents of a dossier by John Githongo, formerly the permanent secretary for governance and ethics, giving additional details about a scandal involving the Anglo Leasing and Finance company were leaked to the ‘Sunday Nation’ paper in January.

The scam, first uncovered in 2004, concerned the awarding of contracts to Anglo Leasing for supplying a system to produce passports that could not be forged, and for building police forensic laboratories – this even though the firm was fictitious.

Githongo’s report outlined how ministers tried to block investigations into the matter. Since it became public, two ministers have resigned over the Anglo Leasing allegations: Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi, and the head of finance – David Mwiraria.

Education Minister George Saitoti has also stepped down, in connection with a separate case of corruption that occurred during the 1990s, involving the fictitious export of gold and diamonds under an export compensation scheme.

The Goldenberg scandal takes its name from Goldenberg International, a company that was paid vast amounts under the compensation scheme. Kenya is believed to have lost upwards of 600 million dollars in the scam.

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