Ex-Citizen TV Anchor, Radio Africa Journalist Elected To SJAK

Sports journalists Eric Njiru and Mukami Wambora were on Saturday, April 15 elected to lead the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK).

The Homeboyz Radio presenter and Radio Africa Group (RAG) sports journalist confirmed to Viral Tea that he was elected the SJAK Vice-President while Wambora, formerly of Citizen TV, was elected the Treasurer.

People Daily Sports Editor, James Waindi was elected the SJAK President. 

"Thanks to fellow Kenyan Sports Journalists for electing me the Vice-President of the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK)," Njiru wrote on social media.

Eric Njiru at the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda on March 16, 2023. /ERIC NJIRU

Others elected include:

1. Samson Ateka (The Star)- Organising Secretary
2. Abuller Ahmed (K24)- Executive Member
3. Charity Wanja- Executive Member 
4. Eric Baraza- Executive Member 
5. Agnes Makhandia (Nation)- Executive Member

Njiru in January 2023 promised to motivate the welfare of colleagues through the introduction of rewarding awards, further advocating for transparency of all engagements pertaining to the members of the association in a bid to restore sanity and order.

"With SJAK elections slightly over a month away, I am this morning announcing to you I will be vying for the position of Vice-Chairman. I plan to do two main things:"

1. "Advocate for transparency, equality and respect. Everything about SJAK should be made public. If there are trips or pieces of training communication should be sent to all MEMBERS before it is decided who is going to be sent out and lay out the criteria and procedure to be used. Openness!"
2. "Organize SJAK awards. I’ll lead a committee that will organize awards to recognize excellence in Kenyan sports journalism every year. I already sent a proposal to the outgoing SJAK office in April 2022 so it’s a matter of actioning it. If elected, we’ll have Sports Journalists Awards on Monday, December 18, 2023. I don’t understand why we don’t have these awards." read his statement.

Njiru, who was in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and whose coverage of the tournament through updates on social media won hearts among sports fans in the country, further revealed that he will use the knowledge acquired in Arabic nation through his interaction with colleagues across the globe to shape the local sporting journalism.

Wambora silently left Citizen TV in 2022 after a five-year stint. She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with some years of experience in the legal field.

She studied law at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom and joined the Kenya School of Law, afterwhich she worked as a Legal Assistant for a local bank on weekdays.

During the weekends she used to host and analyse a sports show on Capital FM between 2011 and 2016. However, she left her legal career in 2016 to venture into sports journalism full-time.

Her unwavering passion for one of the most exciting fields in journalism saw her go from strength to strength, from a little-known personality to match up to the likes of Carol Radull, one of the best female sports journalists in the country.

She joined Radio Africa Group in 2016 which had Bamba Sports at the time. Mukami was the pioneer presenter of the 24-hour sports station alongside three other journalists and hosted the Monday Night Football TV Show as well as produced, scripted and anchored Sports Zone News.

At Citizen TV, she was within a year covering the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia as well as the 2018 Berlin Marathon where she interviewed Eliud Kipchoge and the 2019 INEOS Challenge in Austria where the legendary marathoner became the first human being to run a whole marathon under two hours. She also covered the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and is well known for her love of Formula One.

More to follow...