Kanini Evans Kariuki

Kanini Evans Kariuki is a veteran Kenyan Journalist with several years of experience behind him. He was born on July 10, 1963 in Nakuru town,Rift Valley province, Kenya, at Kivumbini estate. His entire family members later shifted from Kivumbini to Flamingo estate, then Kimathi, Thumaina, Langalanga and then to Free Area, near the Lanet Army Barracks where they settled.

He completed his secondary education at Afraha Secondary School in Nakuru town , Rift Valley province,Kenya,in 1980, and then joined Naitiri High School,Western Kenya, for his"A"level education,completing in 1982. Later, he underwent training in journalism in some institutes in Kenya.

Kanini who doubles up as a researcher, has worked for all the leading Daily newspapers in Kenya;the Daily Nation, The Standard, The Kenya Times and The People Daily.He was the Eldoret town Bureau Chief of The Star newspaper-Kenya's most incisive and authoritative by-weekly newspaper, which collapsed way back in 1998 due to what was perceived as political machinations worked out against it by the past government.Eldoret town is in the Rift Valley part of Kenya,which was the hotbed of the 2007 ugly political violence.
Kanini is currently also a media consultant for Soldiers of Peace International Association,Africa liason office,Nairobi.

In his long-standing career as a journalist,Kanini has covered various dramatic events in Kenya which include the story of former renown detainee Koigi wa Wamwere. He has also covered the 1992 and 1997 politically-instigated ethnic violence in the expansive Rift Valley province, and the worst of all, the 2007 political violence in Kenya where over 1,500 people were killed,350,000 displaced, hundreds maimed and property worth billions of shilings torched following the disputed elections.

Kanini also covered the sad story of the late outspoken and fiery Kenyan clergyman bishop Alexander Kipsang arap Muge, who was famous in the East African region for fighting corruption, land -grabbing, political assassinations,bureaucracy and other irritating vices.

Bishop Muge perished in a bizzare road accident on August 14,1990 along the Eldoret/Turbo road, facing Western Kenya.

The bishop died after a controversial but triumphant visit to Western Kenya in Busia, after receiving death threats from a former cabinet minister, warning him that he would die if he dared visit the area.

Kanini also covered the historic Somalia National Peace and Reconciliation Conference from when it first kicked off in Kenya on October 15 2002, to the end.

Kanini is in the files of Amnesty International for his courage in the reportage of events in the volatile Rift Valley region, and has received commendation from the global Human Right's watchdog.

Apart from covering events in the Rift Valley, he also writes about issues affecting East and Central Africa as well as other parts of Africa.

Kanini has been trained on Journalism and ethics by the Media Institute in Kenya, and has also undergone various in-house trainings in journalism with the Daily Nation Media Group, East Africa's largest circulating newspaper.