{"id":232,"date":"2018-02-16T09:12:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T09:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/?p=232"},"modified":"2018-03-22T06:03:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T06:03:01","slug":"homabay-where-leaders-dont-fancy-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/2018\/02\/16\/homabay-where-leaders-dont-fancy-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Homabay, where leaders don\u2019t fancy journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Observer Team<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA female police officer pointed her gun at my head\u00a0and said I could not enter the Assembly premises.\u00a0Another officer held me by the shirt, tearing off<\/span>
\nsome buttons as they pushed us away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This statement was made by Daily Nation\u00a0Correspondent Barack Oduor last Friday at a forum\u00a0organized by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK)\u00a0during a fact-dining visit to Homabay County\u00a0following reports of recent assault on journalists in\u00a0the lakeside town.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oduor told a hushed hall filled with 19 reporters for\u00a011 media houses that journalists in Homabay do not\u00a0enjoy good working relations with local County\u00a0officials. The reason, he said, is because journalists\u00a0have been reporting about ongoing investigations\u00a0on alleged corruption and power struggles that\u00a0sometimes erupts in violence at the County Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event was hosted by the aging, beachfront\u00a0Tourist Hotel in town. Media Council staff had\u00a0come to find out the circumstances under which\u00a0journalists were allegedly assaulted by police. Prior\u00a0to the Friday event with journalists and in an attempt\u00a0to gather facts, the MCK staff led by Project\u00a0Team Leader Kodi Barth first visited the police\u00a0and the County Assembly on Thursday. Here they\u00a0found a markedly different narrative from that told\u00a0by the affected journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was widely reported in the media that on 29 January\u00a0Homabay police assaulted three journalists and\u00a0damaged their equipment at the County Assembly\u00a0gates. The reporters, Oduor of the Nation, Aly Abich\u00a0of Royal Media Services and George Odiwuor of\u00a0Media Max Networks were on duty to cover a special\u00a0sitting of the Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the attack, there were threats to several\u00a0journalists by county assembly officials not to expose\u00a0the rot in the county,\u201d Oduor said.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the fateful day, the three reporters arrived at the\u00a0Assembly\u2019s gates, where Administration Police officers\u00a0and private security personnel denied them entry to\u00a0cover proceedings. The security officers said they had firm\u00a0instructions to not allow journalists into the Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n

The officers could not name the source of these orders.\u00a0However, Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD)\u00a0Esau Okodie said no such orders came from the police\u00a0commander; that it may have come from either the Speaker\u00a0or Clerk of the Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wang\u2019chieng\u2019 Ward Member of Assembly Peter Kaula told\u00a0MCK staff that it\u2019s not unusual for the Assembly to bar\u00a0\u00a0reporters from house-keeping sessions known as\u00a0Kamkunji.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, all three affected journalists concurred that they\u00a0had no notice of a Kamkunji on 29 January. Besides, Oduor\u00a0added, there are rules to follow on such occasions, such as\u00a0formal notice of a Kamkunji written by the Assembly clerk\u00a0to the media. The journalists said they received no such\u00a0notice.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the gates, the standoff with security officers escalated\u00a0when three MCAs, Julius Gaya of Karachuonyo Central,\u00a0Okuku Miregi of Rusinga Island and Godfrey Juma of\u00a0Homa Bay East, demanded that the journalists be allowed\u00a0into the Assembly. A scuffle ensued, leading to violence on\u00a0the journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The attacked journalists later reported the assault to the\u00a0Homabay police and deposited the damaged camera as\u00a0exhibit., the forum heard. Michael Mutonyi, the\u00a0Administration Police Commander, promised investigations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing has been heard from him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter three days, the police told us they still did not know\u00a0the officer who destroyed George\u2019s camera, even after we\u00a0gave them the picture and a recording of the officer,\u201d\u00a0Oduor said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Days later, the journalist got frustrated that the matter was\u00a0going nowhere. So Odiwuor returned to the police station\u00a0and collected his camera, he told MCK staff at a joint\u00a0meeting with OCPD Okodie. But by retrieving the camera,\u00a0Odiwuor said, the police told him later on the phone, they\u00a0journalists were effectively deemed to have withdrawn the\u00a0case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okodie confirmed that he ordered his crime officer to\u00a0investigate the case. But the officer later informed him\u00a0that the reporters had withdrawn the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

OCPD Okodie confirmed to MCK staff that he ordered\u00a0a crime officers to investigate the case, but that the\u00a0officer later informed him that the reporters had\u00a0withdrawn the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to coming to Homabay, the MCK made repeated\u00a0efforts to secure appointments with the Speaker, the\u00a0Assembly Clerk and Majority Leader. However,\u00a0the Council was informed that the Assembly was not in\u00a0session and that these officers would be unavailable for\u00a0an indefinite period.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who wants to train as an expert County Assembly\u00a0reporter? Well, come to Homabay. Chances are they\u00a0won\u2019t like you much here. But who likes journalists in\u00a0these strange, unfortunate times?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Observer Team \u201cA female police officer pointed her gun at my head\u00a0and said I could not enter the Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6,2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-fake-news","category-letter-to-the-editor","category-weekly-newsletter","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaobserver.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}