Historical media report: Former Citizen TV journalist Jacque Maribe was involved in a widely discussed 2014 interview with then-President Uhuru Kenyatta. An earlier version of this article alleged that State House blocked her interview. That claim was not supported by the independently available reports reviewed for this update.
The televised State House interview
In April 2014, Citizen TV promoted a special visit to State House. The programme featured Maribe speaking with President Kenyatta and journalist Hussein Mohammed interviewing him about his first year in office. Contemporary coverage documents that the television special was planned for broadcast, rather than confirming the alleged cancellation described by this site in 2016.
Maribe’s later account of the newsroom
In a November 2020 interview, Maribe described receiving an invitation from President Kenyatta to conduct an interview before taking maternity leave. She said the assignment led to disagreements with some newsroom colleagues over who would conduct it, but that she ultimately participated. Her account concerns an internal assignment dispute, not confirmation that State House blocked a broadcast.
Was the interview cancelled?
We found no reliable corroboration for the original allegation that presidential aides cancelled Maribe’s interview because of a seat-belt scene. The earlier claim should not be treated as established fact. Nor is there sufficient evidence here to label Maribe as Dennis Itumbi’s girlfriend; the story is about her reporting work.
Editor’s update (October 2026): The sensational headline and unsupported cancellation and personal allegations have been replaced with documented historical context.
Sources
2014 Citizen TV State House special report
Maribe’s account of the interview assignment (2020)
