Nation Media Group (NMG) company which owns the Daily Nation newspaper on Thursday was forced to apologise after erroneously announcing the ‘death’ of a woman.
NMG published a retraction of an obituary placed in its local daily of a Kenyan woman who turned up alive at their offices.
Her relative had placed a death and funeral announcement for one Ms Rosemary Wekosasa.
“It is with humble acceptance of God’s will that we announce the death of Rosemary Wekosasa. She was mother to Andrew Mwita. She was the firstborn daughter to the late Augustine Ndururu and Genevieva Ndururu.”
“Wife to Joseph Mwita, who also passed on in July. She was born and raised in Nairobi and worked in the Office of the President, Mombasa.
She was a retired civil servant and retired in 2020 after which she moved to Nairobi to be with her mum. She was born in 1995 and passed on in 2022, November 8th, after ailing from cancer,” read the obituary.
In its statement, Nation Media Group said that the obituary, which was published on November 14, 2022, had been based on information that was discovered to be false.
“Ms Rosemary Wekosasa came to Nation Media Group PLC offices after this publication and confirmed that the notice is false.
The Company regrets the publication and wishes to apologise to Ms. Rosemary Wekosasa Ndururu, the members of her family not involved in the publication of the notice, and members of the public, generally, for the inconvenience, shock, and embarrassment that the false notification of death occasioned to them by this unfortunate occurrence,” said NMG in its statement.
Her son, Andrew Mwita, had placed the obituary, and Nation Media said they had taken action against Mwita.
“Nation Media does not condone such publication which goes against our editorial policy. We have taken immediate action against the person responsible for the placement of the announcement, including reporting the matter to the authorities for further action,” added Nation Media.
Andrew Mwita is a driver employed by the Nation Media Group.
According to an insider who spoke to Nai Haps, the Nation Media fraternity had been fundraising for Mr Mwita to go and bury his family; but all their monies were returned as soon as Nation Media’s management learned that Ms Rosemary Wekosasa was alive.
“It appears the guy was playing dirty tricks. Even the obituary looks shoddy. The Office had planned to make arrangements for some people to attend the burial but the guy said it was a private affair, hence causing speculation,” said the source.
