Press freedom is under threat in Kenya:
Kenyans on Thursday awoke to the shocking news of a Government attack on the Standard Group, in which KTN was put off air, the printing plant disabled and tens of thousands of newspapers burnt.
And the country united in roundly condemning the raid on the media group, which was described as a blatant assault on Press freedom.
Media colleagues, politicians — including some members of Government — the Church, lobby groups, professionals, human rights activists and ordinary Kenyans all joined the management and staff of the Standard group in protesting against the barbaric move. They held demonstrations in Nairobi and Kisumu, addressed Press conferences, issued statements, called into live TV and radio broadcasts or simply called our newsrooms to express solidarity with us.
Some callers termed the attack “the darkest moment” in Kenyan history and demanded the immediate resignation of the Government.
Kenyan bloggers have expressed solidarity with the Standard Group.
I find it inconceivable and foolhardy that:
1. The President hasn’t still found it fit to comment
on something supposedly touching on our national, and
by extension, his own security.
2. That Hon. Michuki expects to win back public
opinion with his belated attempts to sell the new
angle to this incident. The Tuesday protests, if
allowed to proceed, could just be the turning point in
this saga (unless something gives between now and
then. I certainly expect some clergymen to counsel the
nation to be “patient” this Sunday).
Someone has sent me an e-mail concerning the current
affairs in our country, which I now take the liberty
to share with you and others:
******
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see
the farmer and his wife open a package.
“What food might this contain?” The mouse wondered -
he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the
warning.
“There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a
mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head
and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave
concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I
cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is
a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the
house!”
The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry,
Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but
pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow and said “There is a
mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the
house!”
The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but
it’s no skin off my nose.”
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and
dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the
house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its
prey.
The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In
the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake
whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her
to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken
soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard
for the soup’s main ingredient.
But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and
neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So many
people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow
slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the
wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem
and think it doesn’t concern you…., remember
– when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life. We
must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra
effort to encourage one another.