Hooded and armed police shut down Kenya's Standard newspaper and took its sister TV News off the air on March 2. Tapes were seized, equipment destroyed and thousands of copies of the newspaper were burnt.
The action followed the arrest of three of the Standard's journalists who have been charged with "publishing alarming stories" according to the BBC.
This is the latest sign of the deep crisis that the government of President Mwai Kibaki is facing. Several key members of his cabinet including Local Government Minister Musaki Kombo and Health Minister Charity Ngilu have protested strongly against the raids and led a protest march later the same day.
In January's Socialist Resistance we reported on the fragility of Kibaki's hold on power following his referendum defeat at the end of last year. His attempt to change the constitution to strengthen his own authority was thrown out by voters.
Since then the British press has covered the revelations of John Githongo, appointed by Kibaki himself to investigate allegations of corruption, and now living in exile in Britain after receiving death threats.
His dossier exposes the government's involved in a multi-million dollar scam linked to bogus security contracts.
The promises of Kibaki's election campaign to end the sleaze of his predecessor Daniel Arap Moi have completely gone up in smoke.
But as after Kibaki's referendum defeat key sections of the opposition seem to fear that mass mobilisations will easily go beyond their control and so are half-hearted in organising protests.
This is a society rotten-ripe for a fundamental change.