KENYAN MEDIA ACTIVIST SHOT DEAD!

Independent Media Centre Kenya organizer Stephen Nyash was shot dead last Tuesday under mysterious circumstances just outside where he lived in Nairobi’ Korogocho slums.

Stephen Nyash, a radio journalist and activist, was one of the founders of popular Koch FM in the area and had dedicated his life to serving his community, which included the slum dwellers of Nairobi’s sprawling slum area, Korogocho.

John Bwak, Nyash’s colleague, narrated of how Stephen always had a smile on his face and a deep passion to serve the less fortunate of the society, guarding them against the injustices he consistently witnessed targeted at them.

On Saturday 18th Feb 2012, John had spoken with Nyash over the phone because he was in Lamu on business, and they had planned to meet the following Wednesday to plan over some Indymedia activities for the coming month. He got back a day before and on the morning they were supposed to meet, Bwak got a text message from another colleague telling him:

‘We have lost Nyash, bonge la maandamano Koch.’ (there are demonstrations in Korogocho)

Nyash had been shot in the chest and stomach barely a few hours earlier under circumstances that still baffle the police. He did not make it to hospital.

In Independent Media Centre (Indymedia’s) last ‘Conference of the People’, organized to coincide with the ‘Conference of Parties’ talks on Climate Change, Stephen was focal in organizing and mobilizing local activists and stake holders to the meeting that was meant to help empower area residents.

‘From the moment he knew about Indymedia Kenya, he became not just an active participant, but a leader of the movement,’ said John Bwak, ‘ he even represented IMC Kenya at the continental meet in Dakar earlier in the year.’

Nyash will be buried on the 3rd of March 2012. He leaves behind a widow and two children, aged 3 and 10 years.