When Mohammed Ali started Jicho Pevu, he was seen as a great voice of the voiceless. He would go after drug dealers, the police and rogue companies without fear.
However, in recent months, many people have started seeing him as leaning towards one side of the political divide. He has been attacked on social media on many occasions for his open bias.
He has declared his intention to vie for a parliamentary seat on an ODM ticket, and perhaps since he is now a politician, bias is allowed.
However, he still holds an influential position in the media which he is often seen to abuse.
That aside, Mohammed Ali has little regard to privacy of innocent victims. On Monday, he exposed a young girl – Cheryl Kitonga, on national TV. Cheryl was the last person to be seen with Jacob Juma on the fateful night. She is believed to be one of Juma’s numerous ‘girlfriends’.
Moha went further and aired a clip of a conversation Cheryl had with a cab driver concerning police summons they had both received. In the audio clip, Cheryl is afraid of anyone finding out that she was involved with Juma, and was obviously unaware the cab driver was recording her on the behest of Moha.
Moha and his colleague Dennis Onsarigo aired the audio clip and went a step further by pulling pictures from her Facebook page. This was without considering for one moment what that would do to Cheryl’s personal life and career. It was also mischievous since every other face in the exposé was hidden.
How come everyone in that Jicho Pevu got the courtesy of anonymity except Cheryl Kitonga?
— Wanjiru Muriuki🇰🇪 (@CiruMuriuki) May 23, 2016
it's completely unnecessary to put Cheryl Kitonga on blast!that her identity was publicized for ratings by #JichoPevu is utterly disgusting.
— Lynda Nyangweso (@thatchickLynda) May 24, 2016
cheryl kitonga may have made bad relationship choices but like everyone else on #JichoPevu,she deserves her privacy. https://t.co/czFp15DtWD
— Lynda Nyangweso (@thatchickLynda) May 24, 2016
It is quite possible that Moha contacted Cheryl for an interview, which she refused. Exposing her would seem like the perfect payback according to Moha.
It wouldn’t be a surprise since he has done it before.
A few years back, Moha did an exposé on Saitoti’s murder, involving the Artur Brothers. He talked of their connection to certain members of the Kibaki family, but out of no where, aired a clip of radio personality Ciku Muiruri with one of the brothers.
Ciku sued Moha and in court documents said that she was there for a media interview together with other media personalities.
“I am aware Mr Magaryan lifted me and placed me on a counter, which was surprising to me and we then posed for pictures. However, it was not unusual for him as I was not the only one he took pictures with him in this fashion during the said evening,” Ms Muiruri stated.
Ciku was in no way involved in Saitoti’s death, and airing that part of the clip was clearly meant to hurt her.
She later revealed in her newspaper column that the reason Moha humiliated her was because she refused to give him Winnie Mwai’s phone number during his investigations.
If that’s true, it portrays Moha as a man with little journalistic morals and ethics.
What do you think?
