By Wajir Chronicles Editor
Today, the historical Orahey Grounds in Wajir County was playing host to President Uhuru Kenyatta in a rally he was expected to drum up support for his Jubilee Alliance.
Unfortunately, as the president was being received at the airport, other busy bodies at venue of the rally had other mischievous (but currently backfired) ideas…….to harass and muzzle the press using clueless security personnel.
As the Editor in Chief of Wajir Chronicles, I came face to face with media oppression and harassment today at the hands of Team Ambassador’s spanner boys, who shamelessly colluded with the security forces to eject me from the rally.
The circus started, when suddenly a huge crowd, covering a section of the ground, started shouting pro opposition slogans and constantly drowned the MC’s voice. This prompted my colleagues (from other media houses) and I to draw closer to that troubled area in order to capture the unfolding event amid pushing and shoving between the crowd, the police and local administrators.
It is then that I was singled out by a team of Ambassador Mohammed Abdi Mohammud’s protocol team and instantly labelled an “outsider” and pro opposition blogger. By this I guess they meant the opposition Alliance NASA led by Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula and Musalia Mudavadi.
They equally termed me, and my blog page, as an ardent supporter of the incumbent Governor Ahmed Abdullahi and biased against their candidate. I simply laughed them off.
To me they were far from truth…..and today I want to send them an open message. First and foremost the mission and vision of Wajir Chronicles is to empower and enlighten our people through information.
For years, people of Wajir county and NEP at large have been taken for granted by both the government and their local leaders. It is this gap of misinformation and ignorance, as far as service delivery to our people is concerned that inspires Wajir Chronicles to play the role of a bridge.
If one has been following all the news posts, candidates from different political parties and groupings have been given fair share of coverage. Recently when the the Third way Alliance Gubernatorial aspirant H.E Ahmed Muhumud was coming to town, Wajir Chronicles gave him an exclusive coverage.
The question now is, why is Team Ambassador complaining and wrongly accusing Wajir Chronicles of biasness? I will say the situation has been created by them to divert people from reality.
The answer is simple, his perturbed spanner boys, goons, or PR wrecks…..whatever term is appropriate, are the cause again. I have tried many a times to seek clarification, comment or even simple interviews from all the Jubilee luminaries from Wajir County to no avail.
Every single step or move I make towards that noble goal has always been blocked. I told these so called PA’s of team Ambassador that I don’t quote or seek confirmation from third parties, but from the horse’s mouth. So who is to blame?
The bottom line is I don’t report or cover air, I cover stories….and behind the stories are people.
My unexplained expulsion from a national rally, by local sycophants with the help of security, has already drawn national outcry on social media platforms. They thought they were muzzling and suppressing the press, but what they did was shoot themselves on the foot.
Attacks on Press freedom undermines democracy and once started it will be very hard to turn back the tide. This was indeed a wrong move by Team Ambassador. Suppressing the people’s right to know will never win them votes.
I understand perfectly well that the relationship between those who have information and those who want access to it has always been a fraught one.
Freedom of speech is solidly entrenched in our constitutional law, and is widely embraced by majority of Kenyans. There is no rational, logical, legal explanation for why what happened, happened.
In conclusion I will simply say as journalists we have the right of free speech, we have the right of free press, and we should not be attacked for exercising our rights.
Wajir County isn’t a locality in North Korea, China or Russia….but this is Kenya and our constitution is clear on this.
To Team Ambassador, thank you for parachuting Wajir Chronicles to national limelight, as you criss cross our humble county to seek votes, WC family wishes you all the best.
Read more in the Wajir Chronicles platform.
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