Former NTV journalist Moses Dola who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for killing his wife Susan Kabiru, also a former reporter at the station, has organized the Mr Kiambu Prison Beauty pageant in a bid to raise awareness on the spurring rate of gender-based violence in the country.
The former reporter, who was convicted in 2018, is organizing the event through his organization Rekebisha Trust which he co-founded with Francis Kisienya.
The convict is planning to hold the contest that will bring together both officers and inmates who will contest for the title crown in November 2021.
His organization is on a mission to sensitize the public on the alarming rate of gender-based violence cases and launch a call to action against perpetrators who have been causing families emotional turmoil.
He settled for the Kiambu Prison as the event's venue owing to the high number of violence cases recorded in the county.
The event will be held within the sixteen days of activism against gender-based violence marked from November 24 to December 10, as a culmination of the inmates' efforts to raise awareness.
Dola who was found guilty of manslaughter by the High Court has always expressed regret for his crimes and pleads for forgiveness from Kabiru’s mother stating the death of his wife was purely accidental and that he was sorry.
"It truly pains me watching TV and seeing countless news items of gender-based violence being reported. This makes me think of my mother in law Mrs Kabiru, Sarah’s mum, and the agony through which she has had to live for the past ten years," he stated in a past interview with a local publication.
The ex-journalist revealed that the contest is his way of showing remorse for his actions and hopes that Sarah's family will forgive him for it was not his intention to kill her.
The event aims to help those affected by the vice, through donations of foodstuff, sanitary materials and items to victims admitted at GBV Recovery Centers at the Kenyatta National Hospital as well as the Nairobi Women's Hospital.
This comes after cases of GBV are on the rise after renowned athlete Agnes Tirop was found murdered, with her husband as the prime suspect in the case.
Her killing has sparked public outcry owing to a spike in violent crimes against women in Kenya, with the recent Ndichu Twins scuffle where two women were assaulted in Nairobi.
On October 5, 2018, Dola was found guilty of manslaughter after Kabiru was found dead on May 1, 2011, in their house in Umoja estate while Dola went into hiding. He, however, turned himself in at Naivasha Police Station three days later.
