When police attack a journalist, democracy pays the price

The assault on a Citizen TV reporter covering fuel protests is an attack on every Kenyan’s right to know

By Yvonne Wambui

Police officers arrested and allegedly assaulted Citizen TV journalist Francis Ode while he covered demonstrations against rising fuel prices along Kimathi Street in Nairobi’s Central Business District, in an incident that has drawn swift condemnation from the Kenya Editors Guild and the Crime Journalists Association of Kenya.

Ode identified himself as a member of the press. Officers ignored him and took him to Central Police Station. He was later released. That release, however, resolves nothing.

The questions that remain are more important than the ones that prompted his detention. Why was he arrested? Were proper procedures followed? Was unnecessary force used? And who bears responsibility if misconduct is established? These are not questions the public should have to ask twice.

A journalist covering a demonstration is not a participant in it. Their job is to observe, record and report — to ensure that citizens understand what is happening in their streets, in their name, with their taxes. When officers use force to prevent that work, they are not maintaining order. They are undermining the public’s right to information at precisely the moment it matters most.

Kenya’s Constitution is unambiguous. Article 34 protects media freedom. That protection must mean something beyond the printed page. It must hold on Kimathi Street, at public gatherings and wherever journalists carry out their duties under pressure.

The National Police Service and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority must investigate this incident transparently and act on whatever they find. Silence from those institutions would itself be an answer — and not one the public should accept.

Attacks on journalists do not only harm the individual reporter. They create fear among those assigned to cover similar events, shrink the space for independent reporting and leave citizens without the information they need to hold power to account. When fuel prices rise, when protesters take to the streets, when security forces respond — the public has a right to know what happened and how.

Francis Ode was trying to tell them. That should never be a reason to be arrested.

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