The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) has threatened to lead their members in nationwide demonstrations to condemn violence against members of the fourth estate in the country.
Addressing a press conference in Nairobi on Sunday, April 2, KUJ Secretary General Eric Oduor said journalists have in the recent weeks been a target of attacks from goons and security officers deployed to quell weekly demonstrations called by Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga.
Oduor said the union would call for demonstrations on Wednesday, April 5, if similar cases of assault against members of the press are reported in the opposition’s demos scheduled for tomorrow (Monday).
“In the event that tomorrow we have any case where a journalist will be attacked, we are giving a notice to security personnel that on Wednesday we will also call protests by journalists countrywide,” Oduor said.
“The protests will be peaceful. We will prepare petitions and we will deliver one to the Office of the Deputy President whom we have heard saying that they are coming for us as the media. We will also deliver petitions to different county commanders all over the country about our journalists who have been attacked,” he added.
Oduor insisted that journalists should be protected because “what we are doing is in the interest of the public”.
“On Wednesday we are calling all journalists to come out from wherever you are to protest and protect our space because what we are doing we are doing it in the interest of the public.”
Oduor and the Kenya Editors’ Guild President Churchill Otieno also alleged that the government is planning to shut down the mainstream media and the internet during the opposition’s protests on Monday.
The duo cited previous incidences where journalists covering the demos were either injured by the police, profiled, threatened or even arrested.
“We have information that the government intends to shut down some television and radio stations, as well as internet connection so that Kenyans cannot know what happens during tomorrow’s demos,” Oduor said.
The anti-government protests, entering the third week on Monday, are aimed at pushing President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration to lower the prices of basic commodities.
Raila is also demanding an audit of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers holding the 2022 Presidential Election results.
According to the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), a total of 25 journalists have so far been attacked by both police and protestors ever since the anti-government demos kicked off on March 20, 2023.
“March 2023 remains the darkest month for Kenyan media since the clamour for multiparty democracy. We have so far documented 25 cases of attacks on local and foreign journalists at the hands of State and non-State actors since the onset of the demonstrations,” MCK in a statement on Friday, March 31, 2023.”
“On Monday, 27th March 2023, the first day of the demonstrations this week, the Council documented 20 cases of attacks, harassment and arrests. Today the number has risen to 25, with some of those affected suffering serious bodily injuries.”
