By CYRUS OMBATI
Nairobi, Kenya: The Star newspaper got a reprieve Tuesday after the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) spared them from paying damages to President Uhuru Kenyatta for publishing an opinion piece he considered offensive.
President Uhuru had moved to the Media Council Complaints Commission to demand an unspecified amount in damages following publication of an article authored by columnist Jerry Okungu.
The article, What if Uhuru Ruto win? was published by The Star daily on February 6, 2012, and Uhuru, then a presidential aspirant, took offence with a line in the opinion that compared his possible election to that of infamous dictator Adolf Hitler in 1930s.
The President had complained that Okungu’s article portrayed him as a would-be dictator of Hitler’s magnitude, having been accused of orchestrating World War II and slaughter of over 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, if elected.
Yesterday, although the commission found that Okungu’s article contained a line that vilified Uhuru, it refused to award the President any damages, as it does not have jurisdiction to do so.
“The Commission makes no orders with regard to damages as jurisdiction of the Commission with remedies is limited under the Media Act and the Commission rules of procedure,” Commissioner Grace Katasi read. However, the Commission ordered The Star to publish a public apology to the President within 14 days in the same manner and prominence of the article which the Commission ruled was a violation of sections of the Constitution.
