Dennis Galava: Why I was ruthlessly sacked from NMG

Top: Tom Mshindi. Above: Dennis Galava

Dennis Galava, a senior Nation Media Group editor, accused of penning an  offensive editorial about President Uhuru Kenyatta, has been shown the door in a ruthless way

The celebrated editor and veteran journalists was forced out of the Nation Media Group on Wednesday. He now says he did nothing unusual to warrant the sacking.

Galava says he was simply sacrificed at the behest of powerful forces in government in order to safeguard business interests.

Allegedly, Mr. Galava, who worked as a Special Projects Editor for the newspaper, breached established procedure which included having the paper’s Editor-In-Chief Tom Mshindi approve the editorial, published on January 2.

Apparently, he says,  he had written numerous editorials before and had them published without getting approval from anyone.

Suspension

Galava first received a suspension letter soon after the editorial was published to allow for investigations. Litttle did he know his fate had been sealed.

These are excerpts from a n interview with Capital FM:

“Mshindi threw me under the bus because he knows very well that it is not the first time an editorial was published without having to go through the procedure the letter is talking about because I also saw that procedure for the first time in the letter,” he said, insisting “no such procedure exist in the Nation because I was not new there.”

“I have been sacked for writing an editorial criticizing the president,” he told Capital FM news, adding: “The reasons stated is that I failed to follow established procedure in writing the editorial.”

Nothing unusual

“I didn’t do anything unusual from what I normally do whenever writing editorials because there are no established procedures,” Galava maintained.

He said he had written numerous editorials before and had them published without getting approval from anyone. “It was not the first time.”

“I have written more than 300 editorials for the Nation, in none of them was I asked to consult anyone; this is a case of political and business expediency.”

“I have been away since then until today when I received my dismissal letter.”