Broken promises

Corruption, the government, and press freedom are frequent subjects for Godfrey “Gado” Mwampembwa, a political cartoonist in East and Central Africa. Gado, whose work appears in The Nation and other Kenyan and international newspapers, shares a selection of cartoons on the 2013 Kenyan election and problems facing the country’s press.

Corruption, the government, and press freedom are frequent subjects for Godfrey “Gado” Mwampembwa, a political cartoonist in East and Central Africa. Gado, whose work appears in The Nation and other Kenyan and international newspapers, shares a selection of cartoons on the 2013 Kenyan election and problems facing the country’s press.

Also see CPJ’s special report, “Broken promises: How Kenya is failing to uphold its commitment to a free press.“

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Kenyan cartoonist Gado shows the presidential car propped up on claims of corruption and incompetence leveled at the Jubilee coalition since it took power in 2013. Instead of addressing problems such as graft, the party’s leadership is shown blaming the media in this December 2014 cartoon.

In this February 2014 cartoon Gado shows the Jubilee coalition stifling potential critics, with figures representing civil society and the media shown bound and gagged at the leadership’s feet. Since coming to power, the party has passed restrictive legislation to silence the press.

In this June 2013 cartoon Gado shows the press, represented as a dog, burying its head in the sand over allegations of malpractice by the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission during the election, and then acting as a lapdog to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, shown in shackles in a nod to the ICC charges.

In this March 2013 cartoon Gado shows how social media can be used to further inflame ethnic tensions, which often increase around election time. The government has routinely pledged to crackdown on those using social media platforms to spread hate speech.

Attempts by the government to muzzle the press through repressive laws is illustrated in this November 2013 cartoon. Gado created it after parliament attempted to enact a series of anti-press laws.

In this September 2014 cartoon Gado illustrates the news agenda of local and international media, who appear to be uninterested in covering more remote areas of the country such as northeastern Mandera county.