Ezekiel Mutua Slams TV Station Over Report On Death Of Nairobi Priest At Lodging

Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ezekiel Mutua on Monday, July 10 hit out at a leading TV station over its report regarding a Catholic priest who served at St. Peter's Church in Ruai, Nairobi, who died at a hotel room in Gatanga, Murang'a County.

In a statement, the former Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) boss was irked by a headline which read "Nzi afia kidondani", a Swahili statement which, loosely translated in English, refers to "fly dies in the wound", in reference to the report which made headlines on social media on Sunday, July 9.

He called out the TV station over its unprofessionalism in its headline regarding the demise of the man of God, 43-year-old Joseph Kariuki Wanjiru, arguing that no dead person should be subjected to such ridicule.

"One of the most sickening and callous headlines I have ever seen in the news was "Nzi afia kidondani" on one of the leading TV stations at 7 pm yesterday. It was referring to the death of a Catholic priest in Nyeri. This is heartless, insensitive and unprofessional in the extreme.

"You can't mock a dead person that way no matter the cause of his death. It wouldn't have been any better if he died in an accident," he stated in part.

Mutua argued that Kariuki was a respected human being with family members mourning his unfortunate death.

He further implored the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) to follow up on the matter and for the media house, which he did not name, to issue a public apology and for journalists to be trained to better report similar cases in the future.

"He's human, deserving of respect. He has relatives and friends who are mourning him. To stoop that low in the name of creating a headline is the work of a sick mind.

"This is something the Media Council of Kenya should take up immediately. The media house should apologise and our journalists must be trained to be sensitive when reporting such cases," he added.

The MCK was yet to respond to Mutua's demands by the time of publishing this article.

On Sunday, Gatanga sub-county police commander Lawrence Njeru told the press that Kariuki was in the company of a woman who was alleged to be his lover before the incident occurred on Saturday morning, July 8.

A subsequent police report revealed that the woman was a 32-year-old working as Kariuki's colleague in the same church.

"One Joseph Kariuki Wanjiku a k/m/a aged 43yrs old, a Catholic priest at Archdiocese of Nairobi and a farmer at Mangu area checked in at the said hotel together with his girlfriend who also happens to be her colleague at the workplace in Ruai," it read in part.

The couple had spent the night in the hotel only to fall sick the following morning. The priest was reported to have consumed chicken and some liquor at the three-star hotel, all at a cost of Ksh6,000, on Friday night before retiring for the night.

Around 8 am the following morning, the woman was said to have alerted the hotel's management that Kariuki was feeling dizzy and unconscious, which prompted a visit to a nearby hospital.

"They then rushed him to Kenol hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival while still aboard his motor vehicle Toyota Harrier black in colour," the report further read.

The lady who was accompanied by several workers of the hotel then headed to the Samuru police post where they notified the police about the incident before recording a statement.

Njeru further noted that they found the deceased’s body in the back of the vehicle half-covered with a blanket.

“The body was fresh but had foam coming out of the mouth. We made inquiries and discovered that priests’ bodies cannot be preserved in a normal mortuary so we made arrangements to have it transported to Nairobi, accompanied by our officers.

“We interviewed his companion and she told us she had had an affair with the priest for the last six years,” stated the police boss, who added that investigations were launched to establish the cause of his death.