When cartoons stepped on sensitive toes

One of the recent budget illustrations

 Sometime last year local, cartoonists gathered to pay tribute to two of their own – Elijah Gitau and Terry Hirst – who pioneered cartooning in the country. Among the invited guests were Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and Nation Media Group CEO Linus Gitahi.

Gitahi narrated how cartoonists, especially Godfrey Mwampembwa (Gado), always keep him on his toes. He added that many are the times he gets calls from people who have taken offence with the editorial cartoon on a particular day. Granted that these people who raise Gitahi on phone are not exactly ‘small’ people, it goes to show how that small strip in a newspaper has a powerful effect.