Open letter to the Nation and the Standard

Dear Managing Directors of the Nation and the Standard,

As one amongst millions of Kenyans that support your business, I am rather disappointed in you. Actually, I am disgusted. I know that in the past you have often submitted to eating a piece of the stolen pie but I was under the impression that it was all over after you realised that those strange feelings of guilt and sleepless nights caused by your willingness to give money precedence of morality were just not worth it. Correct me if I am wrong but the real wake up call came when your so-called friends decided to put you in your place and legitimize their right to raid your offices and put a whole in your business - yes, yes, that bit of paper called the ICT Bill.
Do you remember how angered you were by it? But do you also remember who stood by you? Allow me to jolt your memory:

I would like to draw your attention to the tshirts those very brave chaps are wearing. I am sure you will recall where they came from and what it was all about but in case you don't, they are part of a campaign launched by a handful of very tired Kenyans. Tired of our money being stolen by politicians, tired of waiting for justice, tired of watching criminals walk scot free, tired of Kenyans facing starvation, tired of poverty, corruption, judicial incompetence, violence...the list is endless.

You will recall that it so turned out that the government decided to put a sock in your mouth around the same time that Kenyans were being arrested for wearing those tshirts and we all took to the streets in solidarity. We were all tired together and we all wore those silly tshirts and shouted, "Freedom" together. Remember scenes like these:

Forgive the long winded narrative but I have learnt that our memories are notoriously short. I will need to jolt your mind and take you back a little bit further. You might recall that in the Sunday Nation Publication Date: 2007/05/27, you published an article entitled, "Vexing Matter of Promissory Notes" in which you stated the following:

"The Sunday Nation would like to place on the public record its strong objection to the conduct of the Treasury regarding the promissory notes corruptly issued to suspect security contractors. The statements made by Treasury officials thus far show that it is either trying to play Kenyans for fools or is unsure about what it is doing, or probably both...."

That was a long long time ago and far too complicated for me but from what I understand, the government stole lots of our money (they called in Anglo-leasing), got caught with lots of dollar bills stuffed in their underwear and now they are refusing to give it back. Fortunately, there a few people in this country who have much better memories than me and you so have been causing Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta and his cronies a bit of a headache which I am sure you are very pleased about but then instead of getting your black t-shirt out and taking to the streets like the good protectors of freedom of speech and freedom from impunity, you went and did this:

Click on image to read full press release
Click HERE to read something with substance

Did you actually read what you printed? How much did they pay you to print this garbage? Did you ask us if we thought this was a good use of our tax? Did you ask your wife and kids what they thought? Or is this your idea of a clever little way to get some of your tax back from the thieves. Come on man!

I know, I know, what you will say. "We are the media and everyone has a right to say what they want to say. Even criminals have a right to defend themselves." Sorry, but when you throw things like morals and values and ethics (all those things our mother's taught us and we conveniently forgot), this argument does not hold any ground. The least those bureaucrats could have done if they felt they had to respond is to use our hard earned money to print something with substance. Read it and read again. And it has appeared at least three times in your papers. I know for a fact that has cost us several hundred thousand shillings!

Shame on you Mr. Managing Directors of our newspapers. Shame on you! You gave us the impression that you will no longer accept to be paid legitmately or through kick-backs to front criminals. And what have you done? If we can't trust the government, and we can't trust our parliamentarians and we can't trust the media, who then shall we trust? You tell me.