Demo
Journalists from Embu and Kirinyaga Counties on Wednesday joined their counterparts countrywide in holding a peaceful demonstration to protest against police brutality. The joint demonstration that brought together over 40 journalists from the two counties was held in Embu Town.
The scribes marched along the streets waving placards bearing messages condemning the shooting, abduction, arbitrary arrest and physical beating meted out against their colleagues in various parts of the country by state security agencies. They later delivered a petition outlining their grievances to County Commissioner Jack Obuo at his office led by Johnson Mureithi and Macharia Mohammed from Kirinyaga and Embu respectively.
They gave a clarion call to government agencies to respect the freedom of the press, protect journalists while on duty and uphold the sanctity of the journalism profession. The protest was sparked by the spate of attacks on journalists covering the anti-government protest by Gen Zs that saw Nakuru based Mediamax journalists shot on the thigh thrice and abduction of veteran journalist and columnist Macharia Gaitho.
Upon receiving the petition, the County Commissioner committed to uphold media freedom, saying he will escalate the petition to all security agencies for the recommendations to be acted upon. The demands in the petition included press freedom, safety of journalists on duty, unrestricted access to information, end of media censorship and prosecution of officers who have attacked journalists.