MCK Issues Demand To IG Koome After Murder Of Standard Journalist

The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has urged the National Police Service (NPS) under Inspector General, Japhet Koome to take action on those responsible for the murder of Moses Omusolo, a Standard Media Group (SMG) journalist.

In a statement on Friday, December 23, MCK condemned the heinous act reported after his body was found the previous day inside a ditch along the busy Kang'undo Road with a deep cut on the head.

The media regulator also called on the police to carry out speedy investigations into the matter.

The late Standard Media Group journalist Moses Okiror Omusolo. /FILE

"The Media Council of Kenya condemns the murder of Standard Media Group business journalist Moses Okiror Omusolo whose body was found dumped on the roadside along Kangundo Road, Nairobi.

"We call on the National Police Service to conduct speedy investigations into the heinous act and appropriate judicial action taken against the perpetrators," MCK stated.

Police revealed that Omusolo was suspected to have been killed elsewhere and the body dumped on the site. It was not immediately established the circumstances that led to the murder of the journalist who also wrote articles for the Nation Media Group (NMG).

Omusolo was engaged at the time and plans were underway for a wedding that would have taken place in February 2023. He graduated in 2013 from Masinde Muliro University.

"Having worked with him, he was very calm, hardly offended anyone, and was very approachable despite being a senior in the career. If you read the Financial Markets section (stocks, Forex, Unit Trusts) he's the one who did the compilation," one of them described the scribe from the Iteso community in Busia County.

On August 24, 2022, the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) revealed 43 incidences of assault on journalists during the August 9 general elections.

"Unfortunately, MCK also observed increased cases of press freedom violations including denial to access voting areas, critical information from relevant public bodies, profiling of journalists and media outlets, online trolling of journalists and media outlets and in some cases physical attacks on journalists. At least 43 journalists from various media houses were affected by various forms of harassment in 12 incidences documented by the Council.

"Majority of these (37) were involved in incidences that denied them an opportunity to easily access their designated polling and tallying centres while the others included arrest, threats and harassment," MCK stated in its report dubbed Media Performance & Press Freedom Violations Pre, During & Post the August 9 General Election in Kenya.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) revealed on Saturday, December 10 that 67 journalists and media staff were killed in the line of duty in 2022 compared to 47 in 2021. 

Four journalists were killed in Chad and Somalia, meaning Africa recorded the lowest number of deaths among the five regions on the IFJ’s Killed List list behind the Americas (29), Asia Pacific (16), Europe (13) and the Middle East and Arab World (5).