The story of Purity Mwambia is a sad one as it reveals the personal sacrifice that’s sometimes required from journalists who excel at their job of exposing corruption in high places. During her career, Purity has established herself as one of Kenya’s most courageous and resourceful investigative journalists, bringing to our screens shocking stories that expose the rotten underbelly of our society.
Purity started out on her journalism career at KTN, owned by the Standard Group, before moving on to Mediamax Network’s K24, and finally ending up at Citizen TV, the popular Royal Media Group television station.
As her career progressed, so too did her profile, as she carved out a niche for herself as one of Kenya’s leading investigative journalists. No story was too hot for her to pursue and among the exposé’s she brought to our screens were, Murder for Profit, a story about a man who allegedly organized the murder of his nephew in order to collect on his life insurance policy; Bweta La Uhalifu, in which she exposed the laxity in security at the GSU headquarters by smuggling in an improvised explosive device; Virusi Safarini, a piece on how some Kenyans were corruptly defying the COVID-19 travel restrictions; and Guns Galore, the story that effectively ended her career in the country.
Purity’s 2021 feature, dubbed Guns Galore, was so explosive that she was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats. The story revolved around the corruption within the police force, where she exposed how police officers allegedly hired out their uniforms, hand-cuffs, and firearms to criminals at a fee.
Following death threats after the story aired, Purity feared for her life and fled the country for the United States, where she has been trying to rebuild her life and career. Kenya is worse off for losing such a courageous and dedicated journalist and we can only hope that she can return home one day.