Kenya: CFWIJ Condemns The Harassment And Assault Against Judie Kaberia

Location: Kenya
Date: April 23, 2021

Journalist Judie Kaberia shared her unfortunate experience of facing harassment in a recent opinion piece. Judie stated that while she was working as a parliament reporter a few years back, a powerful politician kept brushing off her for an interview for the entire month. After a month the politician confirmed his appointment for the interview but delayed the designated time until it was night. Then he invited Judie to follow him in the hotel room as he was “tired”.

Meanwhile, the journalist kept on pleading for a few minutes to have this interview in the lobby. The politician then grabbed Judie by her hand and signalled his bodyguards as she was not budging. Upon hearing her shouting, her colleague, the radio station's driver came to her rescue. The journalist further said that the politician kept on hurling insults at her that she cannot put into words. CFWIJ is saddened to read about this traumatic experience that Judie suffered. We stand in solidarity with her and offer her our full support.

Judie shared in her article that she tried to professionally approach the anonymous politician via a message on his and through visiting his office. But every time he would avoid her pretending that he was busy. One day when Judie called him, surprisingly he picked her call and agreed to the interview at 5 pm in the parliament building. Around 4 pm he called Judie to inform her that he had changed the venue for the interview to a city hotel. The journalist then arrived at the hotel only to hear more excuses as her guest further delayed his arrival. Around 8 PM he appeared, drunk and loud, he insisted that she has to follow him up in his room for the interview as he is very tired.

The journalist said she was pleading to him to give her a few minutes in the lobby. But he didn't listen and pulled her and said "You'll have to come with me" and indicated towards his guards. Completely startled at this point, Judie was holding tight on baluster while trying to get her other hand free. The guards came and forcefully tried to free her grip from the handrail causing injuries around her wrist. Upon hearing her shouting the radio company's driver came to Judie's rescue as he noticed the scuffle. She further stated that the anonymous politician kept on hurling insults at her as he left for upstairs. The journalist shared the details of the incidents the next morning with her boss who then called the accused politician and gave him a piece of his mind.

Having faced this trauma, Judie joined her work back again. She further highlighted in her article that such an unfortunate experience is one form of major struggles that women journalists go through. Judie emphasized that news media needs to address the systemic issues to empower women journalists.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the harassment and physical assault that Judie had to face just because she was doing her job and wanted nothing else. We stand in solidarity with her and offer our full support. The harassment was a clear violation of her rights and no woman journalist deserves to experience something so horrific.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.