April 7, 2025, Nairobi, Kenya:

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, Katiba Institute, and Muslims for Human Rights are concerned over the Media Council of Kenya Complaints Commission’s decision to entertain a baseless complaint by Safaricom PLC against Nation Media Group and its journalists.

In October 2024, the Nation exposed how Safaricom routinely provides security agencies with
access to suspects’ data, potentially facilitating extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances,
and renditions. Despite these alarming revelations, Safaricom has neither acknowledged its role
nor taken steps to address and rectify its involvement in these human rights violations.
Rather than taking responsibility, Safaricom has sought to deflect attention by targeting the
journalists behind the investigation—Namir Shabibi and Claire Lauterbach—along with the
Nation, which published the exposé. It has also gone after journalists who pursued follow-up
stories—Daniel Ogetta, Kepha Muiruri, and Evans Jaola—as well as KHRC and MUHURI for
demanding accountability.

Tellingly, Safaricom has not denied the most disturbing allegations, including that it may have
frustrated the course of justice, by disclosing tampered or incomplete call data records when
the state has been accused of enforced disappearance.

Safaricom pursued this retaliatory action through a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
Participation (SLAPP), initially filing a meritless complaint with the Commission against NMG
and its journalists. On April 3, the Commission announced that it had “accepted a complaint
from Safaricom PLC” and would conduct a “full hearing into alleged unethical reporting.”
One of Safaricom’s vexatious complaints to the Commission is that the Nation “failed to seek
comment” from the company in advance of their publication. We are credibly aware that, in the
months before publication, the journalists wrote to Safaricom on four separate occasions,
presenting eighteen pages of detailed allegations. The company’s response – which declined to
address the allegations directly – was included in the Nation’s publication.

We are deeply troubled by the Commission’s assertion that Safaricom’s claims “raised credible
concerns.” Safaricom’s actions are not in good faith, and its attempt to undermine the
credibility of journalists who exposed its collaboration with security agencies endangering both
Kenyans and foreigners must be seen for what it is—an effort to evade scrutiny.
The Commission must ask the hard questions: Why is Safaricom using SLAPP tactics to avoid
accountability? What is the company trying to conceal? The answer is clear—the Commission
only needs to refer to the Nation’s investigative report.

Notably, Safaricom has yet to submit any substantive claims to the Commission. This further
proves that its complaint attempts to exhaust journalists through prolonged legal battles,
deterring them from reporting on its human rights violations.

In another attempt to stifle public-interest journalism, Safaricom recently sued journalist Robert
Wanjala Kituyi for merely requesting information on the number of court orders the company
received from police between June and October 2024 seeking access to individuals’ personal
data or communication records. Katiba Institute is representing Kituyi in this case.
We ask the Commission to resist pressure from Safaricom, dismiss these vexatious complaints,
and uphold media freedom. It must not allow powerful corporations like Safaricom to
manipulate its processes to escape accountability.

Signed:
Katiba Institute (KI)
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI)