- Speaking outside Valley Hospital, where Wanjeri was being treated after being taken by fellow journalists, Mr Josep Openda, the chairman of the Nakuru Journalists Association, condemned the act.
Police in Nakuru on Wednesday, July 16, 2024, directly shot Wanjeri Kariuki, a K24 TV and Kameme FM reporter, thrice on her left thigh while she was covering an antigovernment Gen Z protest in the city.
The unprovoked shooting left her fellow journalists in awe because she was clearly adorning a press jacket that was visible from afar. The fateful afternoon incident attracted several stakeholders, including the Nakuru Journalists Association, the Media Council of Kenya, the Law Society of Kenya, and the Centre for Democracy and Good Governance.
Speaking outside Valley Hospital, where Wanjeri was being treated after being taken by fellow journalists, Mr Josep Openda, the chairman of the Nakuru Journalists Association, condemned the act.
“Police officers appear to target journalists in the line of duty; our members have been receiving threats from the ongoing protests. Why did they target her while wearing a press jacket, clearly indicating that she is a journalist? We look at it as an attack on media freedom,” he said.
Further, Mr Openda said that these barbaric attacks will not cow journalists because journalists aim to inform society, and it doesn’t make sense as to why the police would want to attack.
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Mr Joseph Mecha, the regional coordinator in Nakuru, confirmed that this is not a separate incident because the council has been receiving similar cases across the country. He said the council is taking this matter seriously and will follow it up to ensure justice is served.
On his part, Mr Alston Muchela, the chairman of the Law Society of Kenya, Rift Valley region, condemned the act as despicable in the current constitutional dispensation. He said that the freedom of the media is guaranteed and protected by the law. Therefore, this kind of intimidation should not be allowed to continue.
“We want a report as to why was this journalist was shot at. We are calling upon the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to find out who fired that bullet. We will use all the tools at our disposition to ensure justice,” he said.
Mr Paul Masese, presiding convener of the Nakuru Civil Society Organization forum, said that individuals involved in the shooting of Wanjeri will bear a personal responsibility. He reiterated that the only reason that the police shoot at journalists is because they don’t want them to record their heinous acts. He called upon journalists to be steadfast in defense of the Constitution and democracy.
Journalists attacks by the police in Nakuru are not something new; in the recent past, David Omurunga, a Milele FM reporter in Nakuru, was attacked more than once. One of the notable incidents is when he was arrested by police officers and locked up in a police cell in Nakuru Central Police despite showing them a press card.
Nakuru-based Radio Citizen and Inooro TV reporter Robert Maina was attacked by police officers while covering a University protest at Egerton University's main campus in Njoro, and his voice recorder completely crashed. Last year in August, police officers watched blatantly as John Njoroge, a Nation newspaper photographer, was roughed up by football fans, his clothes torn, his camera broken, and his body badly bruised while covering a football match at Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology.
Journalists continue to suffer in the line of duty despite the freedom of the media expressly provided and protected under Article 34 of the Kenyan Constitution.
Wanjeri was on Tuesday evening transferred to Annex Hospital, where she is expected to undergo surgeries to remove the three bullets lodged in her thigh. Journalists have planned a peaceful procession to Nakuru Central Police Station to call out the heinous act.
