A media house is at the centre of a storm after its sacked editor went to court, accusing it of muzzling writersof corruption stories involving the government.
Dennis Galava has sued the Nation Media Group Ltd.
He is seeking Sh250 million for unlawful termination.
In suit papers, Galava narrates how he resisted attempts by his boss to gag him before his firing. He was Saturday Nation managing editor.
His suspension and firing caused uproar on social media and widespread criticism elsewhere. Kenyans accused the media house of bowing to political pressure.
Galava said the editor-in-chief Tom Mshindi on different occasions asked him to go slow on publishing articles touching on mega scandals in the Jubilee government.
He cited the Eurobond and National Youth Service sagas, in which the public lost hundreds of millions of shillings.
According to his suit papers, he briefed Mshindi in November 2015 on his line-up, which included stories on Eurobond, the death of the manufacturing sector, the collapse of coffee sector and other scandals.
His boss did not disagree with the merit of the stories, but said the timing was tricky, the court was told.
This was because his highness the Aga Khan was scheduled to visit Kenya in December 2015 as a state guest and the presidency accused the newspaper of malice for unearthing scandals within the government, Galava says.
FRAGILE MOMENTS
Galava said during the meeting, Mshindi told him to be cautious and politically sensitive when reporting “in these fragile moments”.
“After much discussion, he asked me to keep off the Kenyattas on the coffee stories, lay off the Eurobond saga until advised further and to go slow on Jubilee’s mega scandals.
I protested that this had essentially neutered my team,” he said in court papers Galava said he was asked to direct Saturday Nation columnist David Ndii to stop writing about Eurobond and the NYS scandal because he has been very provocative in his analysis, which
angered the government.
Galava instead asked his boss to speak to Ndii.
“I outrightly rejected the proposal, saying the columnist had stuck to the letter and spirit of his contract and the reputational damage of us gagging him was not worth the risk.
I asked the editor- in-chief to speak to Dr Ndii himself,” he said.
PROCEDURE
Galava was first suspended for 30 days with half salary over an editorial he published, criticising President Uhuru Kenyatta for not delivering on his promises.The editorial published on January 2, was titled ‘Mr President, get your act together this year’.
Galava was accused of failing to draw the attention of Mshindi or the editor in charge at the time to the editorial before its publication. This meant he allegedly failed to follow procedure in publishing the editorial.
Galava says the allegation that he failed to follow procedure is unfounded because until January 20, the only clear editorial policy his former employer had was on the content of editorials, not the procedure.
After the suspension, Galava was asked to appear before a disciplinary team to defend himself. Two days later, he was fired.