The National Police Service (NPS) has described the forceful arrest of veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho as “highly regrettable.”
In a statement, the NPS sought to clarify that the incident was a case of mistaken identity.
“The National Police Service 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 police said.
The NPS reiterated that it does not target journalists in any way and that the incident is “highly regrettable.”
The police service also noted that it remains committed to working with the media while discharging its mandate of promoting accountability and transparency.
The incident occurred on Wednesday morning when Macharia Gaitho, who was with his son, was cut off by a Subaru as they were leaving home.
Gaitho then drove off to the Karen Police Station, where he was forcefully bundled into a car by people in civilian clothes as the police looked on.
Gaitho’s daughter, Anita Gaitho, later confirmed that her father had been brought back to the Karen Police Station aboard the same vehicle he was abducted in.
“He’s safe although they roughed him up a bit. We’re making the abduction report right now,” she said in a tweet.
The incident comes after the Director of Criminal Investigations, Amin Mohamed, had called out Francis Gaitho, a social media influencer, for discrediting their investigations into the Kware dump site murders.
The social media influencer had alleged that the DCI issued a misleading statement and that they had got the name of the prime suspect wrong.
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