Complaint against The Standard newspaper and Runji wa Mbeu

Miguna Miguna
To: kibunja@
Cc: Tanui Kipkoech, David Ohito

Dear Dr. Kibunja,

Further to a text message I sent to 0723926666, which is a number I was provided with for filing text complaints, I am writing to formally complain against the two identified persons for publishing threatening statements against me personally as well as against Kenyans in general.

On Thursday July 29th, 2010, the Standard published, at page 15, an article titled "Why won't Miguna let sleeping volcanoes lie?". The author was purportedly Runji wa Mbeu. I have no personal knowledge of the author. However, the night before the publication, I received a text message warning me that the article would be appearing the next day and that former President Moi had personally ordered its publication.

Read in its entirety and in proper context, the article meant and was intended to threaten me, personally, of physical harm from supporters of Moi from the Rift Valley who are ex-service men. It also warned Kenyans in general, not to interfere with Moi otherwise, his many well-trained supporters might cause insurrection or civil war.

Although the article pretends to be responding to an article or articles I purportedly published "elsewhere;" it did not identify the article or articles it was responding to, when or where they were published. It did not quote any section or portion of the article or articles it was responding to. However, the gist of the article, was to warn me to stop writing on Moi and other "offensive" issues.

It states in part: "These officers and men, upon qualification, take a oath not to use their military skills to hurt their country. This oath is binding as long as the rule of law prevails. When this is subverted, there is nothing to stop them from destroying the agents of anarchy and malice."

In the article, the author implies that I am such "agent of anarchy or malice" that should be destroyed.

Two weeks before this article was published, I received a telephone call from a senior media personality. He advised me that the former President Moi was very angry with my articles and that he had sent Zipporah Kitony to tell me to stop attacking him. One week and a half ago, Mrs. Kittony's son who is the chair of The Star newspaper where my column runs met me at The Yaya Centre and repeated the same message to me.

In view of the foregoing, I believe that the threats contained in the article are real. I believe that the Standard newspaper ought to have known that the article contained overt threats to my person. Yet they never warned me nor asked me to write a response that should have been published side-by-side with the offending publication. But more importantly, journaistic integrity demands that the article, if was genuinely in response to any of my articles that I published in the Star, ought to have been published there. It was unethical and a blatant breach of journalistic principles and ethics for the Standard to have pubished the offending article when they knew that it was not responding to anything I had published in the Standard.

Yesterday, Thursday July 29th, at about 12:30pm, I submitted a response to the offending article to the Standard daily Managing Director, Mr. Tanui and another senior editor, Mr. David Ohito. I expressly stated that I needed the rebuttal to be published in exercise of my right of reply. At about 5pm the same day, Mr. Ohito sent me a text stating that the Standard would not be publishing my rebuttal. Mr. Tanui refused to confirm whether or not he would publish the rebuttal. Clearly, by this decision, the Standard once more violated another journalistic principle: that of fairness.

Should something happen to me, I wish to state here that former President Moi, the Standard newspaper and Mr. Mbeu, if he exists, must be held responsible.

I am therefore requesting an investigation of the Standard newspaper and Mr. Mbeu for the reasons outlined above.

I intend to forward a comprehensive complaint when I return to the office as I am writing this quickly from the field.

Yours very truly,

Miguna Miguna


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MIGUNA MIGUNA
Prime Minister's Advisor, Coalition Affairs
Permanent Secretary
OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
PO Box 74434-00200

NAIROBI, KENYA
Tel: +254-20-2252299
+254-20-2210876