Nancy Baraza Cared For The Downtrodden And Did Not Deserve The Mob Lynching…Now Standard Editor Reveals A Unknown 15k Contribution She Made Privately To A Starving Turkana Lady

Nancy Baraza, is back in the news thanks to a rare candid interview she did with Larry Madowo. Well, given the manner in which she was hounded out office albeit with her own undoing too, few Kenyans ever got to see the side of this lady beyond the image of an arrogant drunk with power woman.

Another journalist has come out too and revealed what The former CJ kept on saying, that she indeed works for the suffering citizen and would not have it in her to look down upon a Kenyan due to her status.

Former Standard Editor in charge of Rift Valley Vincent Bartoo had some revealing information about the lady sharing how after a report they did on Turkana, the then Deputy CJ, called him and asked if she could help a specific old woman get basic necessities. Here is the story as told by the journalist Vincent Bartoo.

Watching former deputy CJ Nancy Baraza’s interview on NTV tonight reminds me of a personal encounter I had with her. I was then working for Standard Group as Editor Incharge of the North Rift. We went to Turkana to cover one of the region’s worst drought. We did a special report on the devastation of the drought that was headlined ‘Are they Kenyans?’ in The Standard newspaper, thanks to my then boss Kipkoech Tanui who empathised with the situation in Turkana & demanded we give a detailed report. This coverage would contribute to the launch of the Kenyans for Kenya initiative that saw fellow countrymen donate food for the Turkana starving families. As I sat in my office feeling proud of the work my team & I had done to bring the Turkana plight to the country’s attention, a call came through. “Chamge Bartoo”, the female caller said. I responded in the affirmative waiting for a further Kalenjin conversation. “This is deputy CJ (I shot up from my seat as though she was standing right infront of me), thanks for waking us up to this reality”, she said. “There is this mama (photograph) on page…is she still alive?”. I said yes. “How can I reach her?”. I went on to give her the woman’s details. We had met this aged mama alone in her manyatta starving & literally gasping for food. “Bartoo do this. I know you can reach her & I trust you to do this favour for me. Iam going to send you money, please arrange & buy her food and make sure you deliver it personally to her”. I respectively said “Yes madam, I will ensure that. God bless you indeed”. After a few minutes I got an Mpesa message reading: Confirmed, you have received 15,000 from Nancy Baraza. The rest as they say is history. We bought food supplies for this woman that lasted a couple of months. Unfortunately, we were later informed she later passed on but not of hunger. Why am I sharing this? Just to state that in every human being there are flaws but they do not outweigh the good. I admire her admission tonight that she made mistakes that day during her encounter with the guard, Kerubo. I also agree with her that such episodes happen for us to change our persona for the better. But I strongly concur with her that she shouldn’t have gone through the mob lynching & eventual hounding out of office.