Boaz Cherutich should not be in office if Kenya is a country that upholds the rule of law. He makes the much-loved government of His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta and Dr William Ruto look bad.
This government is so great even the Opposition, for the first time in Kenya’s history, decided there is nothing to oppose. They joined government through the handshake.
But then you have Cherutich trying to spoil everything.
This man appears to hanker after the “glorious” days of the single-party dictatorship of Daniel Toroitich arap Moi. Cherutich is bad for Kenya. The appointing authority ought to, at the very least, call him over to explain himself.
Boaz Cherutich is the County Commissioner for Nyandarua, the land of cabbages, waru and minji. Great fresh food. But there is a problem in their way he wants to govern.
The administrator issued an edict that journalists should first share their stories with him and take them for vetting by Kenya News Agency before submission to their editors.
Can you imagine that? In 2019? Reporters taking their stories to the chief for approval before filing them? Madness!
“I would like to also request our brothers and sisters from the media that before you release any content, please, I think it is important that you share and work closely with KNA. They work very effectively. They can look at it and then you will be advised whether this is the right material to go out so that you don’t escalate issues,” Cherutich said.
A government official who says anything of this sort should be fired pronto.
One assumes the training of officials of that colonial era relic called the provincial administration – guys who wear ill-fitting khaki suits and funny helmets – includes learning the law. That is part of the curriculum at Kenya School of Government.
People, we are pouring scarce money down the drain training and paying people to enforce the law and promote government programmes they hardly understand.
The framers of the 2010 Constitution abolished the provincial administration. It was one of the many reasons Kenyans shed tears and blood to give themselves a new Constitution they hoped would create a new order.
President Kenyatta chose to retain that cadre of administrators, only changing their job titles. We will let history be the judge how long this arrangement will last.
KNA does not have the mandate to clear news stories for publication by media houses. Editors publish stories on merit and take full responsibility for their decisions. They are the gatekeepers. The final authority on what the public gets to see. No one can take this right from editors. No one.
Nor could county commissioners and the entire cadre of the provincial administration purport to vet stories before publication. When was it ever done? Is it in their job description?
The Media Council of Kenya was rightly alarmed by Cherutich’s diktat. The council quickly dispatched a team to Nyandarua to talk sense to the county boss over plates of steaming waru and minji.
“We are very cautious to ensure that even when verification is done, we don’t cross the boundaries of media freedom and independence because it would be seen to be punitive to ask journalists to subject their stories to vetting by a government agency because that defeats the principle of press freedom,” MCK’s Dinah Ondari told the administrator.
Cherutich nodded in agreement as he swallowed a ball of waru. Chewed the cabbage. Sipped hot minji soup with fierce pilipili.
Mkubwa, read the law. Should you have any issues with journalists in Nyandarua, talk to them. Any serious problem, the MCK offices are always open to you and all Kenyans.
Don’t embarrass the much-loved government of Uhuru and Ruto. Do your job; let scribes do theirs.
1 thought on “Kanu era administrator a threat to media freedom”
What was the CC’s response in this case, just nodding his head? This reporting is not balanced at all. What was the bone of contention in the first place? This publication lacks facts to the core. Is it true that MCK officials dispatched to Nyandarua shared a meal of hot steaming Waru, Cabbage and Minji with the administrator or you are writing a sensational story? Did he issue an edict or its MCK’s fabrication? What was his side of the story during the arbitration meeting?