GADO has had no qualms about skewering politicians of all persuasions in 23 years as a cartoonist for a host of east African newspapers. But his unsparing caricatures were apparently too close to the bone for the Kenyan government: Gado claims he was sacked from the Nation Media Group (NMG), the region’s largest private media company, after pressure from the very top.

The satirist, whose real name is Godfrey Mwampembwa, agreed to take a sabbatical in March 2015 after Tanzania banned the EastAfrican, an NMG newspaper, ostensibly because it wasn’t properly registered (despite having been sold in the country for two decades). The real problem, Gado was led to believe, was a drawing of then-president, Jakaya Kikwete, half-naked, attended to by buxom women named Incompetence, Corruption and Cronyism. In November he was told his contract wouldn’t be renewed.

The termination came after a dispute closer to home. Gado says that in February 2015 the office of William Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, complained about his depiction in connection with a controversial “land grab”. Gado says NMG also put pressure on him to stop drawing Mr Ruto wearing a ball-and-chain (representing a case brought against him by the International Criminal Court for violence in 2007-8). President Uhuru Kenyatta’s shackles disappeared when the ICC dropped charges against him.  

“One thing I will never allow is politicians to dictate what I draw,” says Gado, who is suing NMG and penning cartoons. The company denies bowing to government demands and says Gado’s contract came to “a natural end”. But the incident comes amid a clampdown on Kenya’s media, long seen as the continent’s liveliest after South Africa’s. A string of repressive laws has been passed of late. Recently a counter-terrorism bill was used to arrest bloggers who posted photos of Kenyan soldiers killed in Somalia.

NMG is not the only media company ridding its pages of outspoken journalists. But if Gado’s claims are right it would be disappointing because of its previous history of fearless reporting. It also fired a managing editor, Denis Galava, in January, supposedly for publishing an editorial without getting proper approval from the editor in chief. The article was headlined: “Mr President, get your act together this year”.