It's been months since Citizen TV's Purity Mwambia released a chilling exposé titled Guns Galore exposing how a section of unscrupulous police officers aided crime syndicates by leasing out their weapons and uniforms to thugs. Since then, the notable investigative journalist has gone mute and leads a life away from the limelight
At the time, the exposé drew positive and negative reactions from all quarters including former Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti.
To date, questions have been raised by Kenyans online regarding Mwambia's whereabouts and what she has been up to since the exposé. Others sought to know whether her safety had been compromised owing to the nature of her job.
Efforts by Kenyans.co.ke to reach the journalist on phone were futile as calls went straight to voicemail.
In addition, some of her former colleagues were cagey with information regarding her whereabouts but fruitful ones only provided different theories.
Some individuals believe that the no-nonsense journalist was away on another special assignment On the other hand, others pointed out that she may have been included in a witness protection programme.
Under the Witness Protection Agency, the programme is considered a last resort for situations which cannot be addressed by other protection measures.
According to Constitutional lawyer, Bobby Mkangi, the programme is evaluated on a case-by-case analysis with only the witness being protected in some instances while in others, it is the witness and their families depending on the level of danger the subject is exposed to.
"These are state witnesses, whereby in most cases prosecutors will determine whether a person will be placed under the programme. It depends on the risks and what elements need to be considered," Mkangi told Kenyans.co.ke.
The Citizen TV journalist has remained aloof on her official Twitter page (with 16.3K followers) as her last action on the platform was a retweet dated January 19, 2023.
Guns Galore
In the exposé, Mwambia and her crew alleged that thugs hired guns, ammunition and attire from police officers in a bid to commit a crime. The charges for the items range from between Ksh1,000 and Ksh200,000.
Ex-DCI boss Kinoti at the time lauded Mwambia and her crew for the report but faulted her for not collaborating with the police on the matter. He noted that the media house did not consult the police or relevant stakeholders before airing the piece.
He also revealed that the guns, ammunition and police uniform allegedly purchased from law enforcers did not belong to the National Police Service (NPS).
"The report failed the basic test of journalistic ethics and standards and was structured in what seemed a deliberate and malicious attempt to discredit and humiliate the police service.
"We never refused any operations being carried by you. This could be a fantastic operation if at least you could have put us on board.
"The moment you have received a piece of information where we can recover a firearm, please don't be cheated it was okay to be done the way it was done. It was dangerous," Kinoti stated during a press conference outside DCI headquarters on April 20, 2021.
The Guns Galore exposé is not available on YouTube on Citizen TV's official page.
Read More: Citizen TV's Purity Mwambia Rise as a Respected Investigative Journalist
