See Prison Police Officers Harass Nairobi Residents For Petty Offences… Boniface Mwangi Falls Victim (Video)

For quite some time now, Nairobi residents have raised concerns about the number of police officers roaming in the streets harassing and mistreating people in the name of ensuring crime is not rampant.

Among the things the officers have been accused of is arresting residents without ID cards or those carrying their laptops or other gadgets without receipts.

Claims of the officers harassing even those who have done their shopping from Supermarkets have also been made. The officers are then said to ask for bribes from the victims and if you don’t comply you are taken to Central police station.

The latest incident is where the officers were captured on camera arresting and handcuffing activist Boniface Mwangi and his friend as they walked in the streets of Nairobi.

Boniface refused to show them his ID card and was escorted to Central Police station where he was released immediately Police Officers at the station saw him.

A few metres away another man was arrested and his military combat jacket he bought in a mutumba shop taken away with his documents.

Boniface said:

“In Nairobi today, people are arrested and asked for bribes for NOT carrying an ID.

According to the Kenya constitution not having an ID is not an offence and failure to produce it, is also not an offence. However everyday innocent Kenyans are harassed for failure to produce an ID. Prison warders’ core mandate is to guard prisoners but they are now patrolling Nairobi streets. Today I was arrested for failing to show my ID and Marc Hoeferlin who was walking with me was also chained next to me. We were taken to Central police station and the police released us.

Shortly after we left the police station, we met a person who told us there was man who had been arrested and escorted to Equity Bank, Muindi Mbingu street to withdraw a bribe for wearing a combat jacket. I walked to the bank, found the prison warder and Robert Cheruiyot, the arrested man. After he explained his story we told him not to pay the bribe, and the escort warder rejoined his colleagues outside the bank and walked away with his jacket, which had his personal documents and we followed them to Central police station. A few citizens who witnessed Robert being escorted to the bank to withdraw a bribe, courageously volunteered to escort him to the police station and stand by him. Upon arrival at Central Police Station the police listened to the warders and Robert’s story and they released Robert without a charge.”

And here is the video: