The NTV journalist was summoned over an interview he did with David Ndii on August 22, 2017.

According to letter sent to the CEO of Nation Media Group by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (formerly CID), the said interview had statements that incited people to violence which was in contrary to the law.

Assist Investigations

And so the journalist who conducted the interview was required to visit their headquarters to assist in the investigations and record a statement.

State House official Itumbi who has in the past squabbled with the journalist came to his defence opining that a journalist should not be compelled into giving evidence.

Defence

In a tweet, the senior director of Digital Innovations & Diaspora Communications wrote, “As a Citizen number 22219988 I do not see why @LarryMadowo should record a statement just because he interviewed @DavidNdii - anybody who needs to know what happened should listen to the clips still available online.”

He then went on to add that “You cannot force testimony from a journalist just because he was doing his job.”

Larry’s employers NMG also stated that they would not take part in the investigations as it was against the journalistic code of conduct to do so.

“The DCI’s request is unethical as journalists cannot testify against news sources.” NMG said.