This archive report was first published on 20 November 2019.
On November 15th, investigative journalist Geoffrey Mosoku was suspended by Standard newspaper, sending shockwaves through the newsroom.
The reason for Mosoku's suspension was a story he had written about former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's car being impounded by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for tax evasion.
However, what was not immediately clear was that the car was registered in the name of Raila's late son, Fidel Odinga, who had passed away in early 2015.
According to Business Today, Mosoku's report revealed that the luxury car, registration KCS 002D, had been seized as part of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) crackdown on 444 cars thought to have either not been paid duty or were stolen.
After a protest from Raila's family, backed by a demand letter from his lawyer, Standard Media's top editorial management and human resources accused Mosoku of not giving the former prime minister the right of reply.
What is baffling, however, is that the article went through the due editorial process as required for a headline article, yet the writer was eventually suspended.
"We discussed the story at the morning meeting and the 3 o'clock meeting where the headline is decided," a senior editor at the Standard newspaper told BT. "It was agreed that much as the car is registered under Fidel, we pin the story on Raila."
"We discussed the story at the morning meeting and the 3 o'clock meeting where the headline is decided," a senior editor at the Standard newspaper told BT. "It was agreed that much as the car is registered under Fidel, we pin the story on Raila." Raila somehow holds sway at Standard. Recently he managed to kill a page-one article on the inheritance case between his family and Fidel's widow, Lwam Bekele. Mosoku's suspension has exposed cracks in Standard newsroom and created a stage for the power-play between the mainstream side of the newspaper and the so-called Kabarak Mafia.
