This archive report was first published on 11 June 2020.
On social media, a group of editors, including yours truly, have been trending this past week, accused of being toadies, factoti, sycophants, and generally in the pay of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
However, the real issue lies in the fact that defamation has become a formal extension of Kenyan corporate, political, and national security architecture.
As a seasoned journalist, I believe it's bad form for an editor to sue for defamation. We should be willing to take a few knocks, just like we dish out to others.
But what's alarming is that defamation is no longer the product of carelessness or malice, but something more insidious and criminal.
It's a sobering reality that the defamation industry is now a formal extension of Kenyan corporate, political, and national security architecture.
Figures in government, big lawyers, PR companies, and even some security agencies have nasty bloggers on their payroll, using them to intimidate and beat into submission customers, especially if they're claiming inconvenient rights.
Defamation is a shortcut; it's the product of failure to effectively manage one's interaction with the public. Dirty tricks are always a symptom of incompetence.
As a nation, we must be statesmen and encourage politicians to be too. Let leaders talk to one another, let them negotiate a settlement rather than beating each other's, and our, brains out.
