An accredited journalist has been arrested and his camera confiscated for some time while covering a story on demolition of illegal structures at Nakuru's London estate.
James Wakibia, a freelance journalist, was on Friday taking photographs when he was roughed up by an anti-riot policeman, who seized his camera despite several attempts to identify himself.
“I was busy taking shots of a bulldozer flattening roadside kiosks on Eldama Ravine road. The cop grabbed me from behind and dragged me to a police Land Cruiser where several other officers armed with batons joined in and harassed me,” he said.
“I produced my press card and one of the officers said they knew me very well. He said that just because I am a Journalist and own a camera, I should not go taking photographs anyhow.”
Wakibia, who is also a journalism student at Egerton University, said the policeman who arrested him took away his digital camera and deleted all his images he intended to use in his project.
“He selectively deleted all the images I had shot from KFA to Kobil petrol station. Most of the photos were of traders salvaging items, a bulldozer at work and the armed policemen,” he added.
There has been an outcry in Nakuru among informal traders after Governor Kinuthia Mbugua ordered demolition of structures in a bid to clean the county headquarters.
Wakibia was released after the intervention of a senior police officer overseeing the operation. The journalist was handed back his camera but warned that it would be smashed if he continued taking photographs of the demolition.
Efforts to get comments from Nakuru police boss Kioko Muinde on the matter were fruitless as calls to his phone went unanswered.