Rongo Success Academy has made true its threat and sued NTV for airing a story dubbed “seventh Day Extremism’ in their series Holy Betrayal
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the school has denied the allegations in the story and demaded for a damages from the media house for the misleading story.
According to court papers, on April 7, NTV broadcasted the story where it was claimed that they visited Rongo Success Academy and found that the management had lost at least 6 pupils to some weird Christian teachings linked to the SDA church.
The story went on to further claim that several teachers at Rongo Success had admitted to losing so many students to this sect but said many had refused to go on record for fear of consequences that would follow.
However, the school says that the assertions and insinuations made regarding against them were false, misleading and lacked any substantiated basis.
“These statements represent a deliberate misrepresentation of facts, characterized by gross misinterpretation and distortion of our client’s involvement,” the letter reads.
Omari further says that the attempt by the TV station to link his client to the infamous ‘shakahola’ episode serves to further aggravate the erroneous portrayal.
According the letter, there is no evidence indicating the presence of the journalist who did the story within the school premises to conduct interviews or attempt to engage with any members of the school community.
The school director Eliud Kondeyo who is the sole manager of the institution says he was not interviewed by anyone nor was he given the right to confirm the allegations.
He says that the school operates independently and is not maintained, sponsored or affiliated with the SDA church.
Further, he claims that the school being a day school it operates within the parameters of providing educational services during normal school hours and does not control pupils’ religious beliefs.
The court has directed the school to serve the petition to Nation Media Group within three days and the media house to respond within seven days.
The case will be heard inter-parties on June 21.
