TV47 Anchor Tells Off Azimio After Journalists Attacked During Jacaranda Rally

TV47 news anchor, political and parliamentary reporter, Elizabeth Mutuku, alias Lizah, has sent a strong message to Azimio la Umoja after her colleagues were attacked while covering a rally at Jacaranda grounds in Nairobi.

In a statement on Sunday, January 29, Lizah revealed that the station's crew vehicle was vandalised by unidentified goons, who narrowly made away with media equipment.

A video she shared on her social media accounts showed the windows of the Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle shattered with only a camcorder and the TV station's microphone left intact.

Here is the video:

As much as Azimio wants to hold their rallies and meetings they also must protect people’s properties from goons….This is Tv47 vehicle window glasses shattered and my colleagues almost lost equipment to goons pic.twitter.com/m5gM3Y0aMT — lizah mutuku (@l_lizah) January 29, 2023

Thankfully, none of the crew members was injured. Lizah demanded that Azimio should also ensure security for members of the Fourth Estate deployed to cover public rallies among other high-density gatherings.

"As much as Azimio wants to hold their rallies and meetings they also must protect people’s properties from goons….This is TV47 vehicle window glasses (were) shattered and my colleagues almost lost equipment to goons," she wrote.

However, a section of Kenyans defended the coalition noting that the goons were not affiliated with it but unscrupulous individuals hiding in the rally to vandalise property.

"Those are not Azimio goons but thugs hiding in a peaceful rally to loot and vandalise. Azimio doesn't have goons, but peaceful supporters," Kinuthia Pius wrote.

Others believed that there should have been a police presence at the rally to reduce such attacks.

Embakasi East Member of Parliament (MP) Babu Owino had earlier assured locals that the rally would be peaceful, warning individuals intending to commit crimes in the rally.

On November 2, 2022, during a forum hosted by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI), Francis Ndegwa, the Regional Advocacy & Outreach Officer for Protection International, pointed a finger on some media houses for being slow to protect their journalists while at work.

"Being a journalist is a risky job. Some of the media houses have shown laxity in terms of providing safety for their journalists.

"Investigative journalists have been on the receiving end in facing attacks and threats on the stories covered," he said.

Dagoretti South MP, John Kiarie, who was in attendance at the event, noted that the National Assembly has a great responsibility in ending impunities in Kenya by playing its legislative role and that it will be the first stop to make in ending impunities against journalists.

On August 24, 2022, MCK revealed 43 incidences of assault on journalists during the August 9 general elections.