Audio By Vocalize
Press freedom faces growing threats amid rising tensions between governments and media.[File, Standard]
Kenya's political elite has its own warped perception of what journalism should be, not necessarily what it was designed to be.
UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar Hassan last week got all pumped up and went ballistic against an innocent journalist and the Standard Group for asking him a question on the Ol Kalou Constituency by-election loss. His response, that the Standard Media Group is a quack organisation, was pure drivel. His puerile attack on Gideon Moi and Standard Media Group's Chief Executive Officer Chaacha Mwita, individuals who had nothing to do with UDA's whacking in Ol Kalou, was a reflection of Omar's capability, or lack of it, as a party SG.
When pressed on UDA's loss, a bewildered Omar groped in the dark. He took a detour through other constituencies and recited a list: Malava, Banisa, Mbere, Isiolo, Emurua Dikirr, Baringo, Magarini, Kasipul and Ugunja, as if a scoreboard from other contests could erase the question asked of him.
