GADO has had no qualms about skewering politicians of all persuasions in 23 years as a cartoonist for a host of east African newspapers. But his unsparing caricatures were apparently too close to the bone for the Kenyan government: Gado claims he was sacked from the Nation Media Group (NMG), the region’s largest private media company, after pressure from the very top.
The satirist, whose real name is Godfrey Mwampembwa, agreed to take a sabbatical in March 2015 after Tanzania banned the EastAfrican, an NMG newspaper, ostensibly because it wasn’t properly registered (despite having been sold in the country for two decades). The real problem, Gado was led to believe, was a drawing of then-president, Jakaya Kikwete, half-naked, attended to by buxom women named Incompetence, Corruption and Cronyism. In November he was told his contract wouldn’t be renewed.
The termination came after a dispute closer to home. Gado says that in February 2015 the office of William Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, complained about his depiction in connection with a controversial “land grab”. Gado says NMG also put pressure on...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/22w3Bst
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