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PRESS RELEASE/ALERT - KENYA

9 April 2003

New president set to file charges against two leading newspapers

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is an 8 April 2003 CPJ press release:

KENYA: New president set to file charges against two leading newspapers

New York, April 8, 2003-Kenyan president Emilio Mwai Kibaki, who was elected in
December 2002, has instructed his lawyers to file contempt-of-court charges
against two private dailies.

The charges stem from stories that appeared in the March 31 editions of the
independent East African Standard and the Kenya Times about a court case filed
against President Kibaki by the local gas station chain Nyota Services Ltd. The
company's owner alleges that Kibaki and other senior members of the ruling
National Rainbow Coalition bought gas for their cars on credit and now owe the
company a total of 10 million Kenyan shillings (US$130,652).

The two articles published details of a court hearing held in mid-March during
which Kibaki's lawyers argued that the president cannot be sued for debt
incurred before taking office and asked that his name be removed from the suit.
At a later hearing, the lawyers also asked court officials to
force the newspapers to reveal the stories' sources. The judge in the case has
not yet ruled on these motions.

The two newspapers stand by their articles, saying they reported "matters that
were factual, evidential and legal," according to an April 8 report in the
Nairobi-based Daily Nation.

"This is an unsettling development in a country whose newly elected leader ran
on a platform of supporting press freedom," said Joel Simon, the acting director
of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We urge President Kibaki to abandon
these charges immediately, and to ensure that all Kenyan journalists are free to
report on matters of public interest without fear of reprisal."

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press conditions
in Kenya, visit www.cpj.org.

For further information, contact Yves Sorokobi (ext. 112) at CPJ, 330 Seventh
Ave., New York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568,
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/

The information contained in this press release/alert is the sole responsibility
of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.
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