Allan namu biography

John-Allan Namu is a dogged reporter and media entrepreneur who has been at the forefront of investigative journalism in his native Kenya for nearly two decades, exposing corruption and highlighting its harsh impact on ordinary citizens. Namu established Africa Uncensored in along with two colleagues from the Kenya Television Network KTN to ensure that underreported problems plaguing the public receive the thorough, in-depth attention they deserve.

After a four-part series on street vendors was televised and published in local media, seven city inspectors were charged with robbing vendors and soliciting bribes. The officers were caught on tape harassing, beating and demanding cash from the informal traders as payoff for being allowed to sell their wares. An investigative report on the sale of counterfeit fertilizer, which turned out to be bags of sand, prompted hearings in the Kenyan Senate.

The sand was sold at government outlets across the country as a state-subsidized product. After the stories appeared, the government suspended the sale of the fake fertilizer, pulled it from the market and pledged to compensate farmers who were bilked. His work often put him at odds with powerful figures, but it also earned him numerous awards, including the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Award.

In , Namu co-founded Africa Uncensored, an independent media house dedicated to in-depth investigative journalism. The platform aims to provide honest, reliable, and impactful journalism that holds power to account. John Allan Namu got married to Sheena Makena. They have a three-year age difference with Makena being the older one, they say that the age gap never really comes between them.

In , he announced the release of his memoirs, 'The Joy in the Struggle'. Namu was born on 23 January He was part of a two-man team that formulated and executed 'The Inside Story', a Kenyan investigative TV series that aired as part of the TV channel's prime time news in both English presented by Namu and Kiswahili presented by Mohammad Ali and popularly known as Jicho Pevu.

Kassim Mohammed served as their producer on the series. The series featured investigations into current affairs issues in Kenya, from drugs and terrorism to extrajudicial killings and alleged forced disappearances by the country's law enforcement personnel. They aired a special investigation on the death of then Internal Security minister George Saitoti and his assistant, Orwa Ojode in Namu was also part of the team that produced NTV 's 'The County Edition' news program which highlighted news and progress in Kenya's then newly created 47 counties after he moved to the station in before leaving for KTN again 2 years later.

In , alongside other partners and Africa Uncensored, he launched Shahara, an online streaming platform meant for creatives in Kenya to boost their incomes in the wake of the pandemic. Namu has teamed up with Multichoice Africa for a series of human-interest stories on Maisha Mkanda and true-crime on the Last Door which have aired on the satellite broadcaster's Maisha Magic Plus channel as well as streamed on its video on-demand platform Showmax.

In , Namu and his Africa Uncensored team have been on the spotlight over their coverage of the fake fertilizer scandal in Kenya in a documentary that unearthed the scam. The revelations in the documentary resulted in a parliamentary probe that saw Namu and his team appear before the Senate and National Assembly committees on Agriculture [ 25 ] [ 26 ] and resulted in the passing of an impeachment motion against Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi by the National Assembly [ 27 ] before a special parliamentary committee exonerated him from any wrongdoing.

Namu was a finalist in the Global Shining Light Award in [ 30 ] and was feted for his work on The Profiteers, a three-part documentary series that he produced in that looked at the illicit financial flow in South Sudan. Namu is married to Sheena Makena and together they have four children.