Nation Journalist Loses Phone, Ksh55 In Assault By Dorcas Gachagua's Security

Nation Media Group (NMG) journalist Mwangi Muiruri has announced that he will take action after the security officers attached to second lady Dorcas Gachagua assaulted him on Thursday, November 24.

Speaking after recording a statement at Kaguku Police Station in Murang'a County, Muiruri said that he was traumatized following the incident which occurred when he was carrying out his mandate in the media industry.

The Daily Nation correspondent revealed that the officers had snatched his phone before they attacked him, despite insisting that he did not flout their orders during an event in Murang'a County where the Second Lady was scheduled to spearhead the distribution of relief food in the area hit by the effects of food shortage.

"In the process of I executing my duties of recording the event as it happened, some overzealous officers from her security detail (Dorcas Gachagua) grabbed my phone and in the process of retrieving it back, they assaulted me," Muiruri lamented.

He affirmed that he will start a drive to champion the rights of Kenyan journalists carrying out their duties, warning that the profession could be tarnished if incidences of injustice against journalists continue in the country.

During the incident, he lost his phone and Ksh55 in an assault that follows one that he suffered in less than a year.

"We are going to pursue it so that justice can be done and pass the statement that media is not there by default on the ground, it is there by right.

"When these incidents happen, they can be rest assured that they will be pursued to their logical conclusion because I lost a phone and Ksh55," Muiruri remarked.

Muiruri was attacked on November 14, 2021, while taking photographs of President William Ruto (then Deputy President) during the official opening of Kangari United Dairy Cooperative Society. He was later apprehended and accused of breaching Ruto's security protocol.

"I just asked the officer why he was interfering with my work as I was recording a video. Instead, he pushed out of the dairy society compound, roughed up before I was handcuffed," Muiruri stated after the incident.

The Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) and the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) have since condemned the incident, with the latter calling upon the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to identify the officers in the incident and take action against them.