Gaitho’s arrest should sting our conscience

I found myself disturbed by Wednesday’s attempted arrest of veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho (I am trying very hard here not to call it an attempted abduction). Not only because he is a fellow journalist but more so because of the manner and place of the arrest.

Mr Gaitho, who was in the company of his son was first trailed by an unmarked police car, and when he noticed them and tried to seek refuge at the Karen Police Station, they violently ejected him out of his car and bundled him into yet another unmarked police vehicle. All this happening in the glare of police officers at the station.

A review of the video footage published online by his son following the arrest does not show any indication of police at the station attempting to rescue what was largely looking like an abduction happening right in front of their eyes. Neither did they attempt to find out who these men, not in any uniform, were.

You would presume that the police would have intervened and established the identities of the detectives and Mr Macharia. If he was wanted for any crimes, the arrest would also have been formalised at the Karen Police Station. But that did not happen as the police also seemed to watch helplessly as he was driven away to an unknown destination.

The reaction from the police during the incident could only indicate that this is a mode of operation within the service that they have become accustomed to.

The manner in which the arrest was carried out bears stark similarities with the manner in which we have witnessed the arrests of critical voices which have been part of the discourse around the need for reforms in this country’s governance that was sparked by protests over the 2024 Finance Bill.

Shadrack Kiprono, popularly known as Shad Khalif, was abducted in an almost similar manner in June outside an entertainment spot in South B, and his whereabouts remained unknown for days even as protests heightened across the country. Another Nation columnist Gabriel Oguda was yanked out of his house in Nairobi’s Eastlands in the middle of the night, driven at breakneck speeds around the city before being booked two counties away in Kajiado, without access to a lawyer or his family.

There were those who were unlucky like JKUAT student Denzel Omondi, whose body was discovered last week at a dam in Juja. While the official cause of his death is recorded as drowning, his disappearance after participating in the anti-tax demos on the day protesters breached Parliament, leaves more questions than answers.

Mr Gaitho, unfortunately, is not the only journalist who has faced the wrath of a rogue police force. On Tuesday, Media Max journalist Catherine Wanjeri, was shot on the thigh while covering the protests in Nakuru. This was despite wearing attire that clearly identified her as a journalist.

The recent developments where abductions and violent arrests of Kenyans have been normalised should sting the conscience of a right-thinking nation.

Mr Ominde is lead editor for Blogging.Africa. [email protected]