Kisii County blocks Standard website after reporting graft allegations

KENYA: The Kisii County government has blocked internal users from accessing the Standard online; www.standardmedia.co.ke in an effort that members of staff say is aimed at preventing them from accessing information on series of corruption cases in the County.

In the past fortnight,  the Standard online has reported on corruption allegations that includes  widespread looting of taxpayers’ money and extortion of job seekers by top county assembly officials and MCAs in the Kisii County Assembly.

“They have blocked access to the Standard website because they do not want us to read about how corruption allegations within the county,” a member of staff in the County who requested not to be named for fear of victimization said.

Those who tried to access the site received a message informing them that the web page was blocked because it violated the county’s regulations.

Interestingly, the Standard web page was blocked weeks after the Kisii County Governor James Ongwae launched an anti-corruption policy aimed at guiding the fight against corruption in the county.

Already, the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has ordered the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to initiate investigations into a series of scams in the county.

The DPP acted upon receiving documented evidence of corruption and abuse of office allegations from Peter Makori, a former Kenyan-based journalist who now lives in the US, and another civilian identified as Teresa Ondari.

Officers from the Anti-Corruption agency have already started investigating allegations of abuse of office by top county assembly officials.

On Wednesday, the county’s communications department said that it will follow up on the issue with their counterparts at the ICT department so as to establish why www.standardmedia.co.ke was blocked from access within the county.