• The Police service said that the arrest was a case of mistaken identity.
• The person that was to be arrested is an influencer who shares the name Gaitho.
Image: FILE
The National Police Service (NPS) has described as "highly regrettable" the forceful arrest of veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho.
In a statement, the NPS sought to clarify that it does not target the police in any way.
"We reiterate that as a Service, we do not target journalists in any way, and today's incident is highly regrettable," the police said on X.
The Police service said that the arrest was a case of mistaken identity.
The person who was to be arrested is a social media influencer who shares the name Gaitho.
"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," police added.
NPS noted that it remains committed to working with the media while discharging its mandate of promoting accountability and transparency.
On Monday, the Director of Criminal Investigations Amin Mohamed had called out Francis Gaitho for discrediting their investiations into the Kware dump site murders.
The social media influencer had alleged that the DCI issued a misleading statement and that they had gotten the name of the prime suspect wrong.
He would later on share names, images and descriptions of a person identified as Jairus Onkundi claiming he was the suspect.
Onkundi would later on file a complaint with the DCI for clearance over the ongoing investigations.
Macharia Gaitho was forcefully arrested on Wednesday morning at Karen Police Station.
He was with his son when they were cut off by a Subaru as they left home.
Gaitho then drove off to Karen Police Station where he was forcefully bundled into a car.
In a video seen by the Star, the journalist is shoved into a white Probox inside the station by people in civilian clothes as police looked.
The video was recorded by his son.
The journalist's daughter has since confirmed that the father was taken back to the Karen Police Station aboard the same vehicle he was bundled into.
"I’m with my dad @MachariaGaitho. He’s just been brought to Karen police station by the car that abducted him," Anita Gaitho said in a tweet.
"He’s safe although they roughed him up a bit. We’re making the abduction report right now."