Media council tells DCI to take action after Sonko was filmed assaulting journalist

PHOTO/COURTESY

Media council tells DCI to take action after Sonko was filmed assaulting journalist

The Media Council of Kenya has called for the arrest of Nairobi governor Mike Sonko over alleged assault and misconduct over Monday incident where a journalist was assaulted at the EACC headquarters.

The council through a press statement expressed their concern over the level of police brutality leveled on the journalist while in pursuit of their work. Terming it a violation of the rights of journalists as enshrined in the constitution.

“The council notes with concern that instead of protecting the journalists, the police deliberately lobbed teargas at the journalists in a bid to prevent the members of the press from recording the unfolding events.”

โ€œThe council has also seen a video clip in which governor Sonko was recorded assaulting kweyu who was trying to gain access into the EACC premises.โ€

Journalists who were assaulted include Collins Kweyu (Standard Group), Steve Shitera (Citizen TV), Jeff Angote (Nation TV), and Joseph Wakhungu(Milele Fm).

The video which went viral shows Sonko and his supporters marching to the EACC offices and on reaching the gate, the Governor and his bodyguards are seen slapping and pushing the journalist who was trying to make his way into Integrity Center.

This attack comes after early this year a group of students at St. Steven’s Girls High School, Machakos county, and their principal attacked a team of journalists with the privately owned Kenya Television Network (KTN) injuring them.