Purity Mwambia Resurfaces 2 Years After Citizen TV Expose
Mwambia fled to the US after receiving threats to her life from corrupt people within the security agencies who were offended by the investigative expose.
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For more than two years, details of Citizen TV's Purity Mwambia's whereabouts were unknown ever since her nation-rattling Guns Galore exposé revealing how a section of police officers lent their weapons and uniforms to thugs, abetting crime syndicates in the process.
On Tuesday, May 30, 2023, she appeared in the public eye for the first time, though at a conference organised by the United States (US) Department of State to discuss the unique challenges faced by women in the news industry.
The celebrated journalist was part of a panel discussion hosted by the Bureau of Global Public Affairs and among those sessions covered women living in exile because of their journalistic work.
Purity Mwambia (first on the right) during a conference organised by the United States Department of State on May 30, 2023. /TWITTER.SAMUEL BRESLOW
Mwambia went into exile in the US in 2021 following the expose released on Sunday, April 18 of that year, which drew positive and negative reactions from all quarters including from former Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti.
She recalled how life was tough for her in exile, admitting that she had to start afresh in the American country, meaning that her exposes as well as her achievements accomplished in Kenya were a thing of the past.
She further noted that getting the gist of the US media environment was difficult and that she only covered one story during the two years she was in the US.
“Thank you for this opportunity. My challenges are not very different from other investigative journalists in exile. First of all, when you come here from your country where you’ve done big stories, you’ve quoted all these people who are doing some corruption, big shots in the government...but believe me, when you come here, it’s like your voice is silenced.
“It’s hard to navigate the US media landscape, especially for global journalists. It’s so hard. I’ve been here for two years and I’ve only been able to do one story with one of the local companies," she stated.
She expressed how tough it was for immigrants in the quest to pursue the American dream, revealing her own experience of being abandoned by an organisation that facilitated her exile into America after fleeing Kenya upon receiving death threats.
"Some who come here say it is like the American dream but has its own challenges. You find yourself in a place where there is no one to talk to, no one to run to.
"Personally, I was brought here by an organisation and they abandoned me. They left me, I’m on the verge of homelessness because I don’t know what to do next," she lamented.
While staring at an uncertain future in America, Mwambia described her own experience of seeing homeless people besides the metro buses she passes by, one of the stories she would have loved to take up had she not believed that the same would happen to her.
“Every day when I walk past all these metro buses and I see these homeless people. It’s one of those stories I would have loved to tell as a journalist, but now I walk as if I’m literally in their shoes, not knowing what’s going to happen to me,” Mwambia added.
She however felt that America was more supportive by providing more than money to exiled journalists so that they could work freely and independently as they followed a story wherever it unfolded.
Mwambia also mentioned that they were given media spaces where they didn’t have to talk about their past experiences before they could settle down to work and create systems for them to be able to work in and out of America as they followed stories.
Mwambia fled to the US after receiving threats to her life from corrupt people within the security agencies who were offended by the investigative expose.
The piece gave a crude look into how corrupt police officers gave their guns, uniforms, and handcuffs to criminals to commit crimes in return for a cut from the criminal proceedings, with charges ranging between Ksh1,000 and Ksh200,000.
Ex-DCI boss Kinoti at the time lauded Mwambia and her crew for the report but accused her of not collaborating with the police on the matter. He noted that Citizen TV's parent company, Royal Media Services (RMS), did not consult the police or relevant stakeholders before airing the piece.
He also revealed that the guns, ammunition and police uniform allegedly purchased from law enforcers did not belong to the National Police Service (NPS).
An undated image of former Citizen TV investigative journalist Purity Mwambia. /FILE
"The report failed the basic test of journalistic ethics and standards and was structured in what seemed a deliberate and malicious attempt to discredit and humiliate the police service. We never refused any operations being carried out by you. This could be a fantastic operation if at least you could have put us on board.
"The moment you have received a piece of information where we can recover a firearm, please don't be cheated it was okay to be done the way it was done. It was dangerous," Kinoti stated during a press conference outside DCI headquarters on April 20, 2021.
The former Citizen TV journalist has remained inactive on her official Twitter page (with over 16,300 followers) as her last action on the platform was a retweet dated January 19, 2023.
