Francis Gachuri recounts his journalism journey of seventeen years from the day he joined Kenya Broadcasting Corporation as a trainee journalist on 1st February in 2006.
According to Gachuri, he first met the Royam Media Services Managing Director Wachira Waruru while still a trainee journalist at the state broadcaster. While joining the state broadcaster, the now veteran journalist was determined to excel in the industry.
After 560 days, Francis Gachuri left the State Broadcaster. A few days later, he joined Royal Media Services on 1st September a few months to the highly contested 2007 general election.
His first assignment at the Royal media services was to cover the ODM party primaries in the Nyanza region which according to Francis, it was baptism by fire.
Months later, he was reassigned to the same region to cover the general election in the region and Post-Election Violence broke while still in Kisumu.
They made numerous calls to the then Nyanza Province police commander Grace Kaindi for the fear of their lives. They however managed to escape the unstable region through Chavakali to Nakuru at night and arrived in Nairobi on 29th December 2007, two days after the general election.
The post-election violence incident taught the veteran journalist that journalism is for the brave, not only physical but also mentally.
After 17 years of journalism, one at the State Broadcaster and sixteen years at Royal Media Service, Francis Gachuri has now left for the Ministry of Interior and Administration Head of Communication.
Gachuri does not take the sixteen years at Royal Media Services for granted because it is during the sixteen years that he has built himself as family man and now his firstborn recently joined high school
