--- description: Denis Galava was sacked from the top selling 'Daily Nation' for writing an editorial entitled "Mr President, Get Your Act Together This Year" title: Kenyan Editor's Dismissal Sparks Press-Freedom Fears image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51131111dd1c5a37/69887a1fe20a878af1a8f2a0/486062588.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Kenyan Editor's Dismissal Brings Press Freedom Into Focus by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 22, 2016 7:16 AM CUT  A man reads Kenyan local daily Daily Nation in Nairobi on August 31, 2015. A man reads Kenyan local daily Daily Nation in Nairobi on August 31, 2015.SIMON MAINA—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 22, 2016 7:16 AM CUT The [dismissal of a Kenyan newspaper editor](http://qz.com/599727/kenyas-top-newspaper-fired-an-editor-after-he-wrote-an-editorial-criticizing-the-president/ "undefined") has sparked fears for press freedom in a country regarded as having one of the most “active and independent media corps in Africa.” Quartz reports that Denis Galava, 31, was sacked Wednesday from Kenya’s biggest-selling newspaper, the _Daily Nation_, 19 days after penning a [New Year’s Day editorial](http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Editorial/Mr-President-get-your-act-together-this-year/-/440804/3018414/-/pwgeuq/-/index.html "undefined") that called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to get his “act together,” spoke of “executive myopia” and rejected “the almost criminal resignation and negligence” with which Kenyatta’s government is alleged to have “responded to our national crises this past year.” Galava’s dismissal has sparked widespread criticism in Kenya. Quartz cited local media reports in which Macharia Gaitho, a former managing editor at the _Nation_, spoke of the damage to the paper as being “almost impossible to undo.” The paper strongly denies that Galava has been fired for political reasons. Editor in chief Tom Mshinde told Quartz that Galava “was let go because he did not follow procedure and process in filing an editorial.” According to Reporters Without Borders, Kenya is ranked [100th out of 180 countries](https://index.rsf.org/#!/index-details/KEN "undefined") in terms of press freedom. \[[_Quartz_](http://qz.com/599727/kenyas-top-newspaper-fired-an-editor-after-he-wrote-an-editorial-criticizing-the-president/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4189854/kenya-press-freedom-daily-nation-denis-galava/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4189854/kenya-press-freedom-daily-nation-denis-galava/"},"headline":"Kenyan Editor's Dismissal Brings Press Freedom Into Focus","datePublished":"2016-01-22T07:16:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:21:16.337Z","description":"Denis Galava was fired for an editorial in which he called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to get his \"act together\"","url":"https://time.com/4189854/kenya-press-freedom-daily-nation-denis-galava/","keywords":["Kenya","press freedom"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51131111dd1c5a37/69887a1fe20a878af1a8f2a0/486062588.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51131111dd1c5a37/69887a1fe20a878af1a8f2a0/486062588.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"KENYA-ATHLETICS-NEWSPAPER","caption":"KENYA-ATHLETICS-NEWSPAPER","creditText":"SIMON MAINA—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4189854/kenya-press-freedom-daily-nation-denis-galava/","name":"Kenyan Editor's Dismissal Brings Press Freedom Into Focus"}}]}] ```