Journalists in Eldoret town on Thursday marked the World Press Freedom day by engaging in a tree planting exercise.
The over 50 members of the 'Fourth Estate' planted over 6,000 tree seedlings on a 3.75-acre piece of land at Kiplombe area on the outskirts of Eldoret town.
According to the Journalist's chairman Cherono Kiptanui, the exercise was to show that journalists are also part of the community and can do what other Kenyans can do.
They also raised concerns over numerous threats they receive while in their line of duty.
“As the journalist, we are happy to participate in this tree planting exercise to mark the World press freedom day, we want to urge the government to leave us to conduct our job freely without threatening us since we are just messengers,” said Kiptanui.
“It sad that journalists have been threatened, beaten and recently the Mirror Newspaper Journalist John Kituyi was brutally murdered but nothing has been done. The government should give us total freedom to conduct our duties,” he added.
The Standard newspaper photographer Peter Ochieng echoed similar sentiments and urged the government to ensure that press freedom is upheld so that journalists are allowed to access information in any office as it is their duty to collect and disseminate information.
“The public should know that we are just a tool to collect and disseminate information for their own good and should not regard us as inciters or perpetrators since we bring the news the way it is,” said veteran journalist.
World Press Freedom Day is marked annually every May 3rd and is used to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.