Police officers raided the fourth-floor home of Wallace Gichere, wrestled him down and then hurled him out of his bedroom window. He survived but was paralysed from the waist down. Lost his job and remained on a wheelchair until he died.
Wallace Gichere was a successful photojournalist in Nairobi. Police stormed his home on the night of October 4, 1991. He was accused of leaking information to the foreign press and the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, about political repression under the single-party dictatorship of President Daniel arap Moi.
About 33 years later, a scene similar to the brutality meted on Gichere played out in broad daylight on the streets of Nairobi. On June 18, protests broke out in the capital against the government’s proposed taxes. Police responded in the only way they know: beatings, tear gas, water cannon.
A contingent of officers arrested Standard Group video editor Justus Mwangi, who was filming the protests, and hauled him into their van. And then they threw him out of the moving vehicle. The utter callousness of this action is indescribable. Why would police officers do that? What was going on in their minds?
An NTV video clip showed police lobbing tear gas at journalists as they filmed the arrest of protesters. Journalists were targeted for doing their work. Like Wallace Gichere was, 33 years ago.
Media Council of Kenya CEO David Omwoyo expressed dismay that “while journalists were relying on police to provide them with security in the line of duty, the security officers resorted to manhandling, harassing, arresting and assaulting them. This is despite the fact that the journalists were well-identified with MCK press badges and press jackets.”
By all accounts, the protests have been peaceful. “It was a departure from the past. There was no stone-throwing and looting; just hundreds of young people, otherwise referred to as Generation Z, running on their own steam, armed only with technology and youthful energy, to drive their point home,” The Standard reported.
The Star: “A wave of youthful activism swept across Kenya as thousands marched peacefully against the controversial Finance Bill, 2024.” The paper’s two-page pictorial on the protests bore the headline, “New era: No stones, just placards and satirical chants.”
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb in Nairobi reported that, “A lot of protesters here are young people, social media users. It looks very different from the kinds of protests that we saw in Kenya just over a year ago called for by the political opposition also about the rising cost of living.”
The BBC’s Anne Soy reporting live amid blasts of tear gas canisters and images of armed police chasing and clobbering unarmed protesters said, “Really, what’s different about these protests is that it’s young people in their 20s. I have spoken to some teenagers who have come out and they are so educated about tax issues and they are debating, saying we don’t want this, we don’t want that, and they want to be heard by government.”
The point is that police unleashed violence against peaceful protesters and targeted journalists for doing their work. Shame! Shame! Shame!
Kenyan police have completely refused to reform despite many years of public complaints and countless efforts by state and non-state actors to create a world class professional internal security service.
Way back in 2009, President Mwai Kibaki formed a task force on police reforms. The team reported that, “Many see the police as ineffective and as corrupt at all levels. They expect the police to cease their harsh and aggressive treatment of suspects, victims, and members of the public, and their widespread reliance on corruption and use of excessive force. Respect for human rights and a more pro-active, service orientated approach towards the public is something the public asked for.”
Has this changed, 15 years on?
President William Ruto appointed yet another task force, headed by retired Chief Justice David Maraga, to review the operations of the National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service and the National Youth Service.
Maraga and team found that “the NPS lacks competent leadership with strategic vision and commitment to discharge its mandate. The task force established that most of the legal frameworks required for effective and professional police performance are in place but these are not adhered to due to lack of competence and lethargy to undertake the required reforms in the service.”
Police still operate on the colonial template that sees “natives” – journalists included – as enemies of the state who must be attacked and brutalised whenever they try raise their voices.
Journalism is a force for good in the world. Journalism is not a crime. But the police “force” we have is completely incapable of understanding this. It’s a rogue force that is impervious to change. But we will not relent until journalists and all Kenyans enjoy all their rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
See you next week!
