John Allan Namu Reveals That Kenya Revenue Authority Tried Framing Him

Investigative journalists have one of the most dangerous professional jobs. Should your cover be blown in the middle of a story, God knows what will happen to you. But death threats are a real hazard, though not a big issue, in the line of work as John Allan Namu told Expression Today magazine.

“The most formidable challenge in investigative journalism comes when people affected by your stories try to ruin your credibility by embarking on character assasination. An investigative journalist thrives on his or her credibility but the moment that is called into question, one could as well quit the business,” he told ET.

He further explained an incident where his credibility was questioned, “There is a story I did on a conspiracy to evade tax where import declaration documents were falsified with the connivance of senior Kenya Revenue Authority officers. But after KRA’s top management went public to deny some of the accusations in the story, they went ahead to claim that I conspired with a relative of mine working with KRA to steal confidential information which I used in the story.”

He added, “False propaganda was spread to the effect that one Wambui Namu, a former KRA commissioner, was my mother and that she used her position to leak sensitive information to me in order to spruce up my story. But I am not related to Wambui Namu in any way. We only share a surname and it was pure coincidence that I did the story at the time she held a top position at KRA.”