5 Demands Citizen TV Must Meet In One Week, Or Else- Marsabit County
The county administration claimed that the media house's report indicated that the county could not account for Ksh8.2 billion received for the 2020/2021 Financial Year
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The County Government of Marsabit on Friday, April 5 issued a letter to the Royal Media Services (RMS) demanding the retraction of a story aired on Citizen TV claiming that it was unable to account for Ksh8.2 billion.
In the letter seen by Viral Tea, the county administration claimed that the media house's report indicated that the county could not account for Ksh8.2 billion received for the 2020/2021 Financial Year and that as a consequence of the alleged failure to account for the amount, the County lost Ksh160 million from the Kenya Development Support Programme (KDSP).
According to the statement, Governor Mohammud Ali of Marsabit alongside a team from the County Government appeared before the Public Accounts Senate Committee on March 27, 2024, following an invite by the Clerk of the Senate on February 15, 2024, to appear before it.
This was for consideration of the Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of the County Executive of Marsabit for the Financial Year 2020/2021. The TV station was invited to cover the proceedings.
A building housing Marsabit County Assembly. /ANGAAF RADIO
The Marsabit county administration added that the Chairman of the Committee, Moses Kajwang made a statement to the effect that the sum of Ksh8 billion could not be accounted for, a figure which it noted was drawn from the gross total received by the County Government for the Financial Year 2020/2021 which was clearly stated by the Office of the Auditor General being Ksh8,224,789,000/-.
It accused the TV station as well as RMS' digital platforms of publishing defamatory and libellous words which disparaged the County Executive and adversely affected as well as destroyed its moral and public reputation among right-thinking members of society and in particular the nation.
They claimed that the same creates a false innuendo, imputes and implies that all the members of the county executive are corrupt, dishonest and morally bankrupt individuals who cannot be trusted with public funds.
"That by the contents of the said articles in their entirety, in their natural and ordinary meaning, or by imputations and innuendoes, you meant and were understood to mean that the Marsabit County Executive is corrupt, is incompetent, cannot be trusted with public funds, does not perform its duties in a manner that maintains public confidence and has no regard for the law," reads the letter in part.
Marsabit County further argued that the story was not only false and sensational but also riddled with demonstrable malice.
"That in further overt aberration from the law specifically the Media Council, CAP 411B and trite ethical standards in journalism, your news editors and digital/social media content moderators deliberately failed, refused and or altogether ignored to invite the Marsabit County Executive to offer any comment or rebuttal to the subject articles prior to their publication.
"We are equally concerned that the aforementioned persons did not take any measure of prudency to corroborate the story but authorized it for public consumption as speculative, flawed, melodramatic and sensational as it was," added the letter.
The county deemed the words complained of as false in material particulars and only crafted and calculated to injure the reputation of the County Executive of Marsabit in both the public and private sectors.
It, therefore, demanded that RMS admit liability for the defamation and libel as well as an immediate retraction of equal prominence for its defamatory and libellous publications,
It is also seeking clarification on the correct position and an unconditional and unequivocal apology as well as a commitment from RMS to permanently desist from the publication of falsehoods concerning the County Executive of Marsabit.
The county leadership warned that failure to respond to the demands in seven days from April 5 would prompt it to seek legal redress against the media house.
"Take notice that unless we hear from you in the aforesaid terms within seven (7) days commencing today, we shall commence appropriate legal proceedings against you without further reference to you and at your own peril as to costs and incidentals," concluded the letter.
