By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Police in Kenya have freed a veteran journalist, Macharia Gaitho, who was “mistakenly” arrested and detained for days.
The senior journalist however insists his arrest was not a case of mistaken identity as the police have claimed.
Gaitho, 65, said he was trailed near his home in the capital, Nairobi, by people in two cars, who refused to reveal their identities.
According to a BBC report, he was with his 19-year-old son, who drove with him to a nearby police station for his safety, where he was violently pushed into a car and driven away.
Police later said it was a case of “mistaken identity” and that they had been hunting another person who they accuse of discrediting police investigations into a suspected serial killer.
“The police would like to clarify to the public that this morning, we arrested journalist Macharia Gaitho in a case of mistaken identity, meant for the arrest of Francis Gaitho who is our subject of investigation,” the law enforcement agency said in a statement.
The two Gaithos are not related.
A viral video on social media showed the journalist being forcefully pushed in a white car by uniformed officers and others in plain clothes.
This however attracted widespread condemnation amidst allegations that security agencies had illegally abducted persons linked with anti-government protests that have lingered for weeks, who are demanding the immediate resignation of President William Ruto.
Gaitho told journalists that in the car, he was “sandwiched between two men in civilian clothes”.
“I was handcuffed and assaulted,” he said.
He said the men had demanded to know why he was resisting arrest.
“I told them I was not resisting arrest, I was resisting criminals,” he said, noting that they had not identified themselves.
According to him, they later stopped and after some phone calls, drove him back to the Karen police station where he had been arrested.
“It is me they were looking for”, the journalist said as he disputed police denial.
He said there was a big difference between him and the other Gaitho.
“I am twice his age. He does not live where I live because they trailed me from my home. He does not drive the same car as me.”
He said he believes the “attempted abduction” was related to his work as a journalist.
In their statement, the police said the incident was “highly regrettable” and insisted that “we do not target journalists in any way”.
The veteran journalist is a long-running columnist with Kenya’s biggest newspaper, the Daily Nation, and often writes hard-hitting articles that criticise the government.
He has said he is going to sue the police over the incident, which comes just a day after a reporter was badly injured after being shot while covering anti-government protests on Tuesday.
