A great injustice is happening under our watch.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwe

In 2017, Robert Alai was given a State Commendation by His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta. When he served President Uhuru’s interest, he wasn’t harassed. He was awarded and celebrated by the state and also paid to do their dirty work. When Alai walked to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters last week, he went there confidently because he thought they wouldn’t touch him. What happened next was a shock; he was compelled to hand over his phones and passwords, he was handcuffed and the police went with him to search his office and his house. His family saw their father come home handcuffed like a criminal and their house ransacked. The officers weren’t looking for anything in particular, their aim was to humiliate him. Which they did.

As l write this, Robert Alai is being held in solitary confinement at Central Police Station. He has been there for the past 10 days. I have visited him three times in the past one week and he narrated his arrest to me. He has no cellmates. He isn’t allowed writing material and all his visitors are screened before they can see him. His brother took him a Che Guevara book to read but the police wouldn’t allow it. According to Alai, the officers have been kind to him and they’re just doing their job.

Alai’s arrest is not simply about the fact that he shared images of dead officers, he is really being punished for shaming the government. For showing how they handle the bodies of fallen officers. For inciting an internal police revolt and provoking anger. There was nothing morally or ethically wrong with what he did. It has disgusted and shamed the government that he shared the images of 12 police officers who were killed after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by Al Shabaab terrorists exploded. The officers’ bodies were piled up in the back of a truck like sacks of garbage.

The police officers that arrested Alai complained that it was a waste of their time to arrest him. They know the court will acquit him because he is not a terrorist, neither is he a terrorist sympathizer. He just embarrassed the government yet President Uhuru Kenyatta had awarded him a state commendation. How do you embarrass the hand that once fed you?

Two other officers are in jail; Administration Police Inspector Wifred Kipkemei Maiyo and prison officer Patrick Safari. Kipkemei and Safari have served this country for 32 years combined. Kipkemei is alleged to have sent the images to Alai and Safari’s offence is commenting on the story about Alai’s arrest. They’re both being held at Anti-Terrorism Police Unit cells in Upperhil. Alai, Kipkemei and Safari are the first people in Kenya to be charged under the controvesial anti-terrorism law. The laws were passed to specifically target anyone who embarrasses the government with the truth; journalists, activists, media houses, bloggers and ordinary social media users. Alai’s post, at best was irresponsible but not terrorism. Calling Alai and the two officers “Al-Shabaab sympathizers” is insulting Kenyan’s intelligence.

The government has shut down TV stations in the past. At this rate, it could be only a matter of time before the government says your thoughts are illegal. The word revolution is now “illegal” in Kenya and people posting about revolution are monitored. Now posting about officers dying for nothing is “terrorism.”

The big question is, what are we doing in Somalia? A report by United Nations accused Kenyan soldiers in Somalia of facilitating illegal charcoal exports from the port city of Kismayu and helping Al-shabaab generate millions of dollars every year. The truth is that there are politicians and business people who are benefiting by doing business in Somalia. Our officers, both Kenya police and Army are dying in vain in the war against terrorism. We have tenderpreneurs supplying our military with uniforms, vehicles, fuel, ammunition, food and everything the troops in Somalia need. For this reason, our officers must bleed so that they can make profit. Sweet secrets: Sugar smuggling and State formation in Kenya-Somalia borderlands by Prof Jacob Rasmussen of Denmark says that 70 businessmen in Kismayu, Garissa and Nairobi import Brazilian sugar through Kismayu port and then smuggle it into Kenya through the porous Somalia border. The smugglers have hundreds of trucks. It is a million-dollar business. The evil businessmen work with Al-Shabaab, Somali and Kenya military to ensure safe passage of the sugar and other contraband goods. The people funding Al-shabaab and making Kenya unsafe are known. We know them. They’re top politicians who are photographed standing next to the president.

The silence by Kenyans around Alai’s arrest, especially by journalists and activists, is wrong. After the government is done silencing Robert Alai they will come after you… When you speak for Alai, you’re really speaking for yourself. If Alai has committed a crime, he deserves a fair trial. Alai does not deserve solitary confinement.

In the past, Journalists have been fired from media stations because a call came from Statehouse. Miguna Miguna was deported because he was fearless and his ideas scared the government. Alai and Kipkemei are in jail because of sharing truthful images. Arresting them is just the beginning.

Our silence will embolden the government to continue the crackdown on truth tellers. Journalists will no longer be fired but arrested. Robert Alai, and anyone who speaks truth to power scares the government… Let’s fight for our freedom of expression! #FreeAlai
B.Mwangi

okay.

Are you the author of the passage @sani?

Mwarimo

Boniface Mwangi

Noma saana

A Daily Nation columnist warned us that with election of Uhuruto we were going back to KANU era. I wish I saved that article because I can’t find it online. This was circa 2012.
Alai’s only sin was to expose the killed Kenyans. Kenyans have to know when our brothers and sisters are killed. The government wants to hide things from us which is not good.
Hapa I stand with Robert Alai.

But how exactly is robert alai now or before. All he did is share pictures of dead people, How does that make him a significant person?

Who cares about Alai? He stands for nothing and will fall for anything.

hapana my friend. nobody was denyingthe fact of the officers’ deaths. what he did was to treat the officers’ bodies with indignity and without due consideration to the welfare o their family members.

It’s not the government that does anything …a weak beta male in a big office barks these orders … why can’t they mention the few men or the man who gave this stupid orders …weka jina bana…

awekwe ndani, he knows the law. Do not share gory images of terrorist victims. ati shaming govt on how they handled dead body, trying to spin

lakini ule soldier alipiga hizo picha saa hii najua anatetemeka tu. Akipatwa amemwaga unga bure juu ya kiherehere

kupiga picha si makosa. makosa is having them published.

Haha ohhh my,so piling the bodies in a pickup truck by govt was dignifying.Had they given the bodies the respect they deserved no-one would have thought of taking pictures and sharing them

KDF will never allow that monkey business on their officer’s bodies.

we discussed the issue of evacuating bodies from the scene of an IED attack in what is essentially a battle zone at length right here. The scene is not at kawangware where they can summon ambulances from five directions. tumianga kichwa saa zingine.

You should use yours too,why do we have all those IEDs exploding,isn’t a government making.They should also be ready to deal with the consequences.They should as well let the bodies get burnt there instead of subjecting them to more dishonor
Alshababs dont just strike…And you dare say evacuation…well wisdom doesn’t seem to come with age

Alai basically helped alshaitans in their psychological warfare. Afinywe kapsa! Sasa wakishika the other ugly angry blogger who is apparently the president of ktalk beta boychildren, it will be a good day.

He is toxicity personified.
Those that have worked with him have widely spoken about his unethical behavior when he was a normal journalist.
He once called a female colleague a WHORE (yes in caps) on official email and copied his and her bosses.
They had to terminate his contract.

Alai no mjaluo?