The recent wave of anti-government protests in Kenya has brought with it significant police attacks on journalists covering the demonstrations, reporters and press freedom organisations have denounced. “I have been covering protests for 10 years, but I have never felt as unsafe as I do now,” Duncan Maiche, who works for a local radio station, Waumini Radio, and for a local Tanzanian media outlet, told this newspaper by phone.
When they began in June this year, the protests were criticising tax increases included in a new tax law, which was withdrawn after protesters invaded Parliament. President William Ruto, who came to power in August 2022, reshuffled his cabinet in the face of pressure from the streets calling for his resignation, but kept many of the same officials in office, further riling up the mood of young people on the streets.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) estimates that at least 60 people have been killed and 601 injured in clashes with police and other security personnel, and 1,376 have been arrested. The agency has also recorded 66 cases of people believed to have been abducted or gone missing since the protests began.
On 25 July, Kenyan journalists took to the streets to protest, condemning and demanding accountability for the increase in attacks against journalists, after reporter Catherine Wanjeri was injured by a rubber bullet in the leg despite being identified by a press vest. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced a statement condemning targeted attacks on Kenyan journalists and called for an investigation into Wanjeri’s case. “But no police officer has been held accountable for this case,” RSF’s director of investigations, Arnaud Froger, told RSF.
For him, this increase in attacks on journalists does not come as a surprise. “The signs have been there for the past two years, where we have openly witnessed police brutality against journalists,” he said. “It is also clear that there is no accountability when it comes to police conduct and that means Kenyan journalists must be prepared,” he lamented.
According to Maiche, during the most recent protests on August 8, the police used all their force against journalists from local and international media. “One colleague lost part of his equipment, another colleague was injured by a tear gas canister… I was hit by a hard object and needed medical attention,” he says. “We asked the officers why they were attacking journalists, who were wearing jackets that identified them as members of the press. They did not want to see groups of journalists; we became their enemy,” he adds.
A regional reference?
The Media Council of Kenya, an independent national body, told this newspaper that it has documented about 30 attacks on journalists since the protests began in June. According to Dinah Ondari, one of the heads of the body, most of the cases involve arrests, physical assaults and also online attacks. “We have issued statements and engaged various stakeholders; we have written to the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), the National Police Service and other related agencies to investigate the reported cases and bring the offenders to justice,” she said.
Muthoki Mumo, Africa Programme Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ, The agency, which is based in Kenya, confirmed in an email that it had documented “several incidents” in which security officers assaulted or threatened journalists covering protests in Kenya since June. “We continue to investigate numerous allegations that police have assaulted, detained and intimidated journalists covering the unrest,” it added. “This pattern of attacks on journalists simply doing their duty to report on a matter of public interest is deeply regrettable for a country that was previously considered a regional bastion of press freedom.” Kenya is ranked 102nd out of 180 this year on the Kenyan media rankings. Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. Last year it ranked 116th, down from 69th in 2022.
Cecilia Ngunjiri, a freelance journalist, is another of the professionals who has been injured while covering the protests. The woman was hit on the back with a huge wooden stick by the police and The images circulated on social media as an example of brutality against reporters. “We were being chased by the police. I was running slowly and they caught me,” Ngunjiri recalls by phone.
The case of Macharia Gaithoa 65-year-old veteran Kenyan journalist, caused particular concern in the country. The journalist reported that the police had illegally detained him for several hours, according to him, because of a column critical of the government that he wrote in the local newspaper. Daily NationGaitho explained that a vehicle cut them off when he was travelling with his son and that he was forcibly taken into the car, where there were four men who did not identify themselves. His son recorded it and posted it on social media. Hours later, after driving around the city in the vehicle, he was released at the same spot where he was arrested. Police claimed there was a mistake in identification.
Gaitho believes that press freedom in Kenya is seriously under threat and that unconstitutional methods may be being used to silence the media. “We must start holding individuals in the government who threaten our freedoms accountable. If there are cases of journalists being beaten, harassed or intimidated, the media must come together and work together to identify the culprits and bring them to justice,” he said.
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