Search For Anything In Kenya (Government, Locations, People, etc.)

Political Journalists Call For Saftey During The Election Period

SK 2 years ago 2 min read

The Inspector General (IG) of Police, Hilary Mutyambai, is being urged by the Political Journalists Association of Kenya (PJAK) to guarantee the safety of reporters covering the general election in August.

Kennedy Murithi, chairman of the association, lamented the growing instances of political journalists being threatened, profiled, and physically assaulted when covering political events at a meeting of the association held in Naivasha on Saturday to discuss the nation’s political climate ahead of the August elections.

“We have specifically witnessed worrying trends where journalists have been physically ejected from events, called names, some profiled based on their religion/ethnicity and threatened with dire consequences. This must stop,” said Murithi.

“Some political players have insulted journalists; they have bullied and in some cases denied the journalists opportunity to cover political events.

We are concerned that some of us have endured the most of the security apparatus and political parties.”

Additionally, Murithi urged the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to expedite the accreditation of reporters covering the elections so they can have unrestricted access to polling places and tallying facilities on August 9.

Murithi asked statesmen and their followers to desist from preventing political journalists from carrying out their duty while highlighting that they are apolitical and have no visible ties to political organizations.

“We encourage our membership and media fraternity to exercise professionalism and integrity in the coverage of the elections,” he said.

“Let the symbiotic relationship we have built with the public, politicians and security apparatus included to continue and not result into violence and physical assault.”