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Violence Against Journalists: Why Is It Always Rebecca Nduku On The Receiving End?

Every time there seems to be a scuffle or violent encounter with journalists, one name always seems to be at the top of the list of victims. One Rebecca Nduku. Who is Rebecca Nduku and why is it that she always seems to be on the receiving end?

Rebecca Nduku is the East African Standard newspapers photo journalist who was assaulted last week by a security officer of tele-evangelist Margaret Wanjiru after a press conference at her Jesus is alive ministries headquarters in Nairobi. She is he same photo journalist who had a nasty encounter with President Kibaki's security detail last year where she was roughed up and lost her camera.

It is not clear why the guard picked on Rebecca among a battery of several journalists who were covering the event, both men and women, but for those who know Rebecca well, its not difficult to speculate why she became fair game to the evangelists 'heavies'.

For starters, Rebecca is probably the most aggressive female photo-journalist in Kenya and probably East and Central Africa today if not the best. She has this thing in her to always get the best picture at whatever cost including running ahead of the subject amid jostling from her colleagues in the profession.

In the early 90s, I had an opportunity of working with Rebecca at the Standard newspapers where she was on 'attachment' prior to completing her photo journalism course.

The svelte, young and attractive photographer was a welcoming addition to the Standard newsroom which was then filled with many aging journalists many in their 60's and on their way out.

Among them were amorous senior reporters and editors who thought they could easily score with Nduku since she was fresh from college and naïve on the ways of the world let alone the media. They were in for the shock of the life.

Rebecca was so obsessed with her work that she got completely oblivious to the 'passes' being made on her as she went on to quickly prove her worth as a photo-journalist of repute. Her brief stint at the media house earned her lots of accolades from senior journalists who quickly saw the great potential in the gifted young photographer.

Her sheer aggression and determination was admirable especially at a time when very few women were in the field of photojournalism. If I remember well, there were only two female photographers at Standard at the time, Nduku and one Tabitha Atwoli. It is not clear what became of Atwoli.

This could be the reason why Rebecca is always being picked on by bodyguards of the high and the mighty and if the past events are anything to go by, the attractive Standard journalist should never lower her guard especially now as this is an election year and tempers always rise among news sources not to mention the goons who tag along.

The other major incident came about last year at a presidential function where a member of the elite presidential guard snatched Rebecca's digital camera claiming she was photographing the presidential limousine, which was wrong and posed a security risk.

It was only after the intervention of the presidential press unit director, Isaiah Kabira that the security man, a bomb expert, returned the camera and did not even bother to apologize to the diligent lady who has made a mark for women in local journalism.

Read more about the risks and challenges Kenyan journalists have faced under the Narc government.

Search engines can give you huge traffic. Here's how a Kenyan company can get thousands of visitors to their site daily.

The Anglo Leasing Circus Continues

The ever-smiling attorney General Amos Wako shot himself on the foot yet again yesterday. After publishing in the Kenya gazette that vice president Moody Awori and cabinet minister Kiraitu Murungi have been cleared from the multi million Anglo Leasing scandal which is haunting the Kibaki administration even as we approach the general elections, the AG added a surprising twist to the clean bill of health he had given.

After an outcry from the civil society and opposition politicians, Wako swiftly 'clarified' that the duo had not been cleared off all the allegations and on the contrary, they had only been absolved from one of the dubious deals in the Anglo Leasing monster which will definitely cost Kibaki his re-election late this year. The AG added that the pair were still "under investigations."

According to the former permanent secretary for governance and ethics, John Githongo, the scandal involved 18 procurement contracts where the government committed Sh 50 billion to non existent companies for the supplies of goods which were never delivered yet a large chunk of money was paid out.

After fleeing the country, Githongo spilled the beans in the United Kingdom where he named the top politicians involved in the scam with his list also including former ministers David Mwiraria and Chris Murungaru. The latter was hauled to court while Mwiraria is still in the cold though there is pressure from his Meru community to reinstate him.

Wako seems to have made his latest strange statement at the behest of powerful state house operatives including the president's spin doctors who have an election in their hands this year and there are already strong signs Kibaki could lose the polls.

The Anglo Leasing scandal has never been solved to date and the best the government could do was to haul to court some civil servants who's crime was taking orders from their superiors who are now walking scot-free in the streets of Nairobi or the corridors of State House, like nothing happened.

These unending Anglo Leasing investigations have become rather tiresome and irritating to Kenyans. Many are sure that even video footage clearly showing the culprits' hands in the cookie jar will still not be enough evidence to prosecute.

Search engines can give you huge traffic. Here's how a Kenyan company can get thousands of visitors to their site daily.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Kumekucha Daily: Tues Jan 23rd 2007

Violence Against Journalists: Why Is It Always Rebecca Nduku On The Receiving End?

The Anglo Leasing Circus Continues