The world of investigative journalism is hailed as the ultimate test for journalists as they delve into in-depth research and reporting in order to unveil matters or expose facts to the general public.
In such cases, discretion is of the essence as the risk of the journalist's cover being blown may jeopardize the whole operation.
This was the case for Citizen TV news anchor Waihiga Mwaura who went undercover in order to determine the extent of the use of plastic bags in the country despite a ban imposed five years ago by the government.
Flanked by the camera crew, Mwaura picked Kamukunji, Nairobi as their first spot- an informer had tipped them that they would be assisted in purchasing a bale of plastic bags.
They approached a trader who was willing to sell the outlawed carrier bags to them at a fee. However, their cover was blown when the sellers became suspicious upon noticing that they had parked their vehicle across the road.
" Around OTC area, we came close but our cover was blown after the black market sellers became suspicious on noticing our parked vehicle across the road," read part of the special report.
After their cover was blown, they were told to leave by the traders. The crew was, however, successful after a sugarcane vendor agreed to connect them with his supplier operating from Kibra.
This time around, the crew was careful not to blow their cover hence they parked their vehicle metres away from the meet-up point. The Citizen TV pointman was able to purchase 100 packets each at Ksh80.
Seeking to unravel the mystery, Mwaura took the bale of bags to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Director General, Mamo Boru Mamo, in order to establish why it's easy to find plastic bags despite an imposed ban in 2017.
The NEMA boss affirmed that most bales sneak into the border from neighbouring countries that have not imposed the ban.
He added that they enforced measures in order to stop the influx of the banned plastic bags- but blamed the country's porous border points.
Currently, those caught with the outlawed plastic bag face a fine of either Ksh2 million to Ksh4 million or a jail term of one to two years or both.
