Politician offered goons Sh100,000 to assault, disrupt my protest coverage - Larry Madowo

CNN International Correspondent Larry Madowo. (Photo: Larry Madowo/Instagram)

By Bashir Mbuthia
Monday, July 7, 2025

According to Madowo, the planned attack included directives to beat him up, smash CNN's equipment and disrupt their coverage of the protests.

CNN International Correspondent Larry Madowo has claimed that a Kenyan leader offered paid goons an additional Sh100,000 to assault him while he was covering recent anti-government protests in Kenya.

In a video statement shared on X on Monday, Madowo alleged that the attackers confessed on camera, admitting they had previously been hired for similar activities but were not fully paid for their involvement in earlier demonstrations.

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According to Madowo, the planned attack included directives to beat him up, smash CNN's equipment and disrupt their coverage of the protests.

"A Kenyan leader has offered paid goons an extra Sh100,000 if they attack me while covering the protests, beat me up, smash our equipment, and they confessed to that on camera because they were not fully paid for the last protests," said Madowo.

Madowo likewise decried growing calls for his arrest from some pro-government social media accounts, who have accused him of "inciting people to violence." He strongly dismissed the allegations, asserting that he and his team had simply reported on the demonstrations as they unfolded.

"Some pro-government accounts on social media are calling for me to be arrested for 'inciting people to violence". All we have done is report what's going on, call out police brutality and show people the truth," he said.

To further drive his point home, Madowo claimed that a Kenyan lawmaker had also been advocating for his arrest.

While he did not mention anyone by name, the statement could be a reference to Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma, who on Sunday called for Madowo's arrest in a now-deleted social media post ahead of the Saba Saba protests on Monday.

Other politicians allied to the ruling regime, including Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, have publicly criticised international journalists like Madowo for what they claim is biased and negative coverage of Kenya's internal affairs.

"One lawmaker also called for me to be arrested; we will not be intimidated. Journalism is not a crime," he said.

Madowo, who has been a prominent voice in covering anti-government protests and human rights violations in Kenya, also clarified his absence from the streets during Monday's Saba Saba protests, stating that he was unavailable due to a previously scheduled work assignment in Nigeria.

"That's not the reason I am not there today, because I am in Nigeria. Because we planned this weeks ago. I couldn't cancel it, and the job is as an international correspondent, not a Kenyan correspondent," he said.