Emmanuel Maleve, a Kitui-based blogger known for his outspoken criticism of local leadership, is expected to appear before the Milimani Law Courts shortly following his dramatic arrest outside a shopping mall in Kitui town on Thursday evening.
Maleve was apprehended by plainclothes officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters in Kiambu and subsequently booked at Muthaiga Police Station, according to his lawyer Noel Musya.
“We are yet to establish what led to his arrest, and we haven’t accessed the charge sheet. What we have so far seen is a statement from the Occurrence Book (OB) at Muthaiga Police Station indicating the journalist was arrested due to publishing false information on his blog ‘Hopkin Digital’ and cyberbullying. He is expected to be presented in court later today,” Musya said.
The blogger has built a reputation for being critical of developments in Kitui South Constituency and has previously clashed with the area’s Member of Parliament, Rachael Kaki. In one of his recent posts, Maleve accused the third-term MP of failing to establish a functioning NG-CDF oversight committee and demanded an investigation into the handling of public funds over recent years.
His arrest has triggered widespread condemnation, especially from the media community in Kitui. The Kitui Media Unity (KMU) released a statement strongly denouncing the move, describing it as police intimidation of journalists.
