Nation Newspaper Cries Foul as IEBC Drops It From Lucrative Deal – Kenyans.co.ke
The Nation Media Group (NMG) has accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of leaving it out of a lucrative advertisement deal running into millions of shillings.
In a statement dated Wednesday, July 27, the NMG General Manager, James Sogoti, wrote to IEBC Chief Executive Officer, Hussein Marjan, questioning why the Commission failed to publish the 140-page party nominations list on the Daily Nation.
While referring to a tender award dated July 29, 2021, Sogoti lamented that the Commission had contravened the contract and in doing so, chose to publish it on a low-ranking newspaper.
“The list has been published in the lowest circulating dailies in Kenya. NMG considers this not only an unfair business practice and a breach of good corporate governance by IEBC,” the NMG letter read in part.
In addition, the Kimathi Street-based media house asserted that it was the leading newspaper in the country and by denying it the contract, millions of Kenyans were denied their constitutional right to information.
“We can confirm that the 4.3 million loyal Daily Nation readers have been denied the freedom of access to critical public information (regarding the choices available for them in the August 9 poll).”
Sogoti asked Marjan to grant the media house a go-ahead to publish the final party nomination list on its Thursday, July 28, issue.
A spot check by Kenyans.co.ke showed that The Standard carried an excerpt of the IEBC list in its July 27 issue.
The list published by IEBC contained lists submitted by political parties with names of individuals who had been nominated to the County and National Assembly and the Senate.
Nominations lists have been a topic of interest in the country with Kenyans looking out for the final list since it was viewed as an option through which parties award loyalists, most of whom had shelved their political bids.
The Wafula Chebukati-led Commission is required to publish information that is of public interest in at least two widely circulated newspapers but this may be subject to change depending on the budgetary allocations.
Marjan and the IEBC are yet to respond to the issues raised by the Nation Media Group.
