The President’s communication unit should counter check information before reacting

Basic tenets of natural justice dictate that you do not shoot the messenger, however distasteful the message, you deal with the message. Following reports of the terrorists ambush on police officers at Yumbis Tuesday last week, The Presidential Strategic Communication Unit took to twitter to mourn and salute the officers who had died defending Kenyans.

Within hours of PSCU condolences, the interior ministry tweeted that no officer had been killed in the incident and that landmines set on path by terrorists left some injured and police vehicles destroyed.

What followed the shameless attack by Al-shabaab was a flurry of blunders that saw Interior Cabinet Secretary Major-General (Rtd) Joseph Nkaissery warn the PSCU. The confusion saw Mr Nkaissery blame the media and social media users for playing a part in the confusion of causalities.

The interior ministry aimed its guns at its favourite soft target, the media, after being asked about the report on Yumbis attack. Nkaissery blamed the media for reporting an exaggerated figure of the death toll from the ambush. The informational lapse saw the PSCU and the interior ministry blame the media for the confusion.

The interior ministry later confirmed that there was only one casualty in the ambush. It would have been prudent for the PSCU to counter check the accuracy of the information before tweeting.

The blame on the media is uncalled for and verification of the veracity of information on security matters should take course to avoid errors, uncertainty and confusion.