Former BBC journalist Namukabo Werungah has recalled an incident in which she and her four colleagues nearly lost their lives after being accosted by rowdy youth armed with crude weapons.
In a post she made on Saturday evening, the journalist, who works as a reporter with the New Humanitarian, indicated that the team had left Nairobi for a filming assignment at an undisclosed location.
She noted that before embarking on the journey, she had done groundwork and assessed the risks.
Werungah explained that the team, which had left Nairobi at 4:30 a.m., was almost arriving at their destination when they decided to begin filming.
"Within five minutes, we were surrounded by approximately 20-30 people. Initially, it was curiosity, but one person appeared agitated and suspicious of us," she explained.
"We explained why we were there, but he didn't believe us and started making serious accusations. Suddenly, everyone in the crowd believed him, and things quickly became violent. We offered to leave, but they would not let us."
The matter quickly got out of hand and the crowd barricaded the car tyres with massive stones, ready to set it on fire.
She noted that the crowd quickly grew to over 100 individuals who openly discussed how to kill the five.
Werungah revealed that the crowd contemplated burning, stoning, or using crude weapons against them.
The team attempted to engage the crowd by letting a member of their team who understood their language to set diplomacy in motion but this proved futile.
"While pleading for our lives (at this time, we are surrounded by hundreds of people), we requested that they take us to the police rather than kill us. This aggravated them even more because it confirmed their suspicions that we were working with authorities. Our request to be taken to the area chief was met with the same hostility," she added.
"Almost 20 minutes in, I realized that we might not make it out of there alive. I remembered the young bikers who were killed in Kajiado (NB: We were not in Kajiado), and I was almost certain we would go the same way."
Fortunately, the police responded quickly and secured their freedom with the help of the Media Council of Kenya.
Werungah, who had a stint at NTV, was in the company of her driver, a fixer, and two other individuals.
She served at Nation Media Group for four years between 2013 and 2018 before moving to BBC which she left in April last year.
