Kenyan journalists attacked at opposition Nasa meeting

In Summary

• ODM director of communication Philip Etale apologised over the incident.
• Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary General Erick Oduor also condemned the attack.
• He warned that journalists would in future stay away from such events.

By The EastAfrican
More by this Author

Two Kenyan journalists were assaulted at a meeting called by the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) at the Wiper party headquarters in Nairobi.

Citizen TV’s Francis Gachuri and NTV’s Jane Gatwiri were Tuesday afternoon roughed up in the melee.

Some of the Nasa supporters accused Citizen TV of bias in the manner in which it reported the repeat presidential election results. President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner by the electoral commission with over 98 per cent of the votes cast in an election boycotted by Nasa.

The supporters approached Mr Gachuri, a veteran political journalist, to ejected him as they waited for a statement by Nasa leader Raila Odinga over Mr Kenyatta's win.

They accused Citizen TV of being part of a scheme to rig the election in favour of Mr Kenyatta.

Ms Gatwiri, while filming the assault on Mr Gachuri, was told to stop and even slapped and pushed.

Journalists, including those from foreign media, walked out en masse in protest of the assault.

Mr Odinga's spokesperson Philip Etale issued an apology over the incident.

“Dear colleagues, I must say here what I saw was unfortunate, barbaric and archaic. I have reported the matter to Hon Raila Odinga and he is not amused at all.

“A statement on the same will be released and the youths involved will be reprimanded. On behalf of Nasa, I apologise for the attack. I am very disturbed,” he said.

Nasa statement

Nasa later issued a statement condemning the attack and promised to investigate the matter.

“The National Super Alliance is deeply disturbed by an incident in which some youths attending its meeting at Wiper headquarters earlier today assaulted some reporters from local media houses,” read the statement from Kathleen Openda, Nasa communications director.

“We wish to make it clear that the youth acted on their own and we condemn their actions in [the] strongest terms possible.

“We ask media houses that may have captured the said youth on video to provide them to the coalition for investigation and action. The coalition registers unreserved apology to reporters who fell victim to this unfortunate incident,” Ms Openda said.

KUJ

Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary General Erick Oduor also condemned the attack and warned that journalists would in future stay away from such events.

“Kenya Union of Journalists condemns the attack on Citizen reporter Francis Gachuri by Nasa supporters. This acts of violence against journalists is not acceptable and [we] demand action against the perpetrators. If such acts do not stop, we will advise journalists to stay away from such events,” he said.

-Reported by Ibrahim Oruko