Kileleshwa Member of County Assembly (MCA) Robert Alai has defended CNN journalist Larry Madowo from online attacks over an incident that occurred during the Thursday, June 27, 2024 antigovernment protests in Nairobi.
Taking to his official X account on Friday, June 28, 2024, the politician-cum blogger stated that Larry had not done anything wrong to warrant the attacks he has been facing on the internet.
“I don’t see any wrong Larry Madowo committed in all the shared videos. Guys, do you know how hard it is to handle insecurity brought about by fame?” Alai remarked.
Alai further noted that Larry being a celebrity journalist, he had to build a thick shield around himself to get protected from physical, psychological and any other kind of harm.
He went ahead to warn netizens against attacking the journalist, noting that a big section of Kenyans has recently branded themselves as journalists or bloggers.
“You build a thick shield around you to protect yourself from physical, psychological and other kinds of harm. I feel for Larry. Don’t attack him for no reason. Nowadays everyone is a blogger or journalist in Kenya,” Alai pointed out.
I don’t see any wrong Larry Madowo committed in all the shared videos.
Guys, do you know how hard it is to handle insecurity brought about by fame?
You build a thick shield around you to protect yourself from physical, psychological and other kinds of harm.
I feel for…
— Robert ALAI, HSC (@RobertAlai) June 28, 2024
Larry Madowo became the talk of the internet after he was accused of selling out local journalists to the police.
Larry Madowo accusations
In videos that have been doing rounds on social media following the Thursday antigovernment protests, Larry has been filmed walking away together with his fellow international journalists, with a man who claims to be a local journalist following him closely while complaining.
The young man seen carrying a video camera is heard complaining that Larry was in the company of several other local journalists filming the protests but when the anti-riot police arrived, he distanced himself from the local journalists.
Larry Madowo to police
According to the man complaining in the video, the police asked if he was working together with Larry’s team, but the celebrity journalist denied.
“Tumekuwa tumesimama na Larry pale, mimi ni journalist, alafu Larry ananitoka kwa Makarao anasema hatuwajui hao, na tulikuwa mbogi ya majournalist pale tunarecord. Makarao wanatufukuza ju ya Larry…..nimepigwa hapa na polisi ju ya Larry (I was standing over there with Larry, I am a journalist, but Larry set up me up to the police by saying he didn’t recognize us, yet we were a group of local journalists filming the protests. Police have chased us away because of Larry…They have beaten me up),” the youthful man is heard lamenting in a video shared by blogger Abraham Mutai.
A section of the netizens started attacking Larry over the claims, branding him a traitor.
However, a good number of netizens have defended the journalist, pointing out that they see nothing wrong in the videos that have been circulated.
For a long period of time, Larry Madowo has been a subject of online attacks due to his continued criticism of Kenya’s infrastructure.
He has previously caught himself up in a bitter exchange with Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen over the status of JKIA.
