Kenyan Journalist Alex Kiprotich Abducted, Dumped Near Masinga Dam

Alex Kiprotich, an Associate Editor at Kenya’s Standard Group, has been found safe after a harrowing night-time abduction. The journalist was reportedly waylaid by armed, masked men on the Gilgil-Nakuru highway late Tuesday evening.

His vehicle was blocked, and he was forcibly removed by the attackers. During the ordeal, Kiprotich managed to make a brief distress call to the Standard Group’s head of security, stating, “Tom, we have been hijacked at Gilgil!” before his phone was disconnected.

The call initiated a swift response from his colleagues and the police, launching a search that was hampered by the perpetrators switching off Kiprotich’s phone. Standard Group CEO Chaacha Mwita described the situation as adding “a layer of trauma” due to the inability to track Kiprotich’s whereabouts.

In the early hours of Wednesday, the Standard Group received information that Kiprotich had been left in a thicket near Masinga Dam in Machakos County. He was reportedly dumped around 2 am and sought help from a nearby family who provided him with shelter and a phone to contact his employer.

Mwita expressed gratitude to the family for their assistance and condemned the abduction, highlighting the contradiction with Kenya’s constitutional guarantees of media freedom. He noted that this incident, occurring after a previous attempted abduction in June, raises serious questions about journalist safety, especially given recent critical reporting by the Standard Group on the current administration.

The media house has rejected accusations of “extortionist propaganda” from President William Ruto and maintained its commitment to factual reporting. Mwita emphasized that such attacks on journalists must be investigated and that freedoms guaranteed by the constitution should be upheld without intimidation.