Veteran Daily Nation columnist Macharia Gaitho "mistakenly" arrested

During the Gen Z demonstrations in Nairobi, alarm in media circles – including the Media Council of Kenya, the Kenyan Editors Guild, the Media Complaints Commission, the Editors Guild and the Media Owners Association – was justifiably raised by the Kenyan Police’s heavy-handed treatment of journalists covering the event, of whom, it was alleged, 24 were “attacked” by what are supposed the forces of law and order in Kenya.

Freedom and independence of the electronic, print and all other types of media is guaranteed under Article 34 of Kenya’s Constitution.

Macharia Gaitho ‘mistake’

In July the police made a mistake, in more ways than one, by following and arresting veteran Daily Nation columnist Macharia Gaitho.

Police later said it was a case of “mistaken identity” and that they had been hunting another person who they accuse of discrediting police investigations into a suspected serial killer.

Whether Mr Gaitho would have been released so quickly if he wasn’t a leading and esteemed journalist, is surely open to question. It helps to have the media on your side.

The case of Allison Pearson and freedom of speech in the UK

The journalists reporting the Gen Z demonstrations are not now alleged to have committed a crime, as far as is known. Nor is Macharia Gaitho accused of any wrong-doing.

No crime, no case, no problem, or at least there shouldn’t be. But not in the UK it seems. Be concerned at the case of Allison Pearson.

Last Sunday, November 10, Ms Pearson was getting ready for a Remembrance Sunday memorial. Sheard a knock at the door. She opened the door to find two policemen on her doorstep. They had come to accuse her of a ‘non-crime hate incident’.

She was accused of using ‘hateful’ speech, although it was accepted no law had actually been broken. The accusation related to a Tweet she was alleged to have sent a year before (which had almost immediately been deleted).

When Allison Pearson asked what tweet this was regarding, and who had made the complaint against her, the police said they could not tell her.

So much for having the right to know your accuser and the accusation being made.

The case of Allison Pearson and picking on the wrong person

But, again, the police had made a mistake, or at least picked on the wrong person.

Like Macharia Gaitho, Allison Pearson is a leading journalist and columnist, in this case with one of the UK’s bestselling newspapers, The Daily Telegraph. She is also a presenter of The Daily Telegraph’s (very popular) podcast, Planet Normal. She is also a feisty woman. And now she too has supporters in high places. One of whom is very highly placed to influence the media.

Elon Musk and George Orwell

It’s all a bit ‘Kafkaesque’, as more than one commentator has suggested. It reads like a dystopian fiction. And indeed, comparison has been drawn to George Orwell’s great dystopian novel 1984 by none other than Elon Musk, the boss of X (formerly Twitter) and now a close personal friend of US President Elect Donald Trump.

“This needs stop”, Elon Musk Tweeted. It’s “insane”. And “Make Orwell fiction again!”

1984

Someone once said that every thinking person should read George Orwell’s 1984 at least once every five years.

The Kenya Forum agrees but in the mean time we recommend to our readers and the Kenyan and British police that they read a superb article first published in the Forum in October, 2023: ‘Big brother is still watching you’.