The Kenyan Government has rubbished SABC report which alleged that some of the terrorists who burst into a hotel complex in Nairobi, killing at least 21 people in an attack that lasted hours, were of the Yao tribe from Malawi.
“Government wishes to inform the general public that the relevant authorities of the Government of the Republic of Kenya have confirmed that no Malawian national was involved in the terrorist attack in the Kenyan Capital, Nairobi” reads a statement issued by Minister of Information, Henry Mussa.
A South African analyst Izak Khomo, without presenting any sound evidence, claimed on SABC that Al-Shabab had recruited Malawians from the Yao tribe to carry out the attack at DusitD2 Hotel on Tuesday last week.
Times publication used the allegation as an authority for its story in Malawi News headlined Malawi implicated in Kenyan terror.
Malawians slammed the publisher and Malawi News senior editors for the story.
Renowned social commentator Onjezani Kenani described the story as “sensational, untrue and totally uncalled for”.
Kenani also questioned Times’ use of one man’s opinion to conclude that Malawi was involved in the terror attack.
“If the President of Kenya had accused Malawi of sponsoring terrorism I would have agreed with your headline.
“Even if, for argument’s sake, some of the Al Shabaab members were to be from Malawi, how can mentioning such a fact mean Malawi is implicated?” he wrote.
Sixteen Kenyans, one Briton, one American and three unidentified people of African origin are among the dead, he said. Twenty-eight others have been hospitalized.
