Activist Boniface Mwangi had an unusual day on Friday after finding himself on the wrong side of some General Service Unit (GSU) officers who had accompanied NMS officers who had initially identied themselves as KRA officers.
The officers were going around Nairobi CBD buildings to arrest people doing business without proper permits.
In a video that has sparked uproar and praises towards Mwangi in equal measures, he is heard asking the men in civilian and a GSU officer to show their IDs.
Despite the police officer identifying himself, Mwangi adamantly told them to produce their IDs lest they won’t make any arrests.
“Nani ako na ID hapa from KRA?(Who has an ID here from KRA?) identify yourselves. Uniform sio kitambulisho (Police uniform cannot be used as a sign of ID),” Mwangi said while referring to the police officer.
He took to his twitter account to narrate the fiasco and shared the videos he recorded earlier.
“Thread of how broken our country is. I was at my barbershop when these young men walked in, with a GSU officer and arrested the receptionist. We asked them to identify themselves, they said they were from KRA but they didn’t have IDs. We asked them to call someone who had an ID.”
The men looked undeterred by Boniface’s demands and had confidence because there were accompanied by the police. It seems he (Mwangi) irked them and they decided to call for back up.
A scuffle soon ensued when a woman came and showed them her ID while asking why Mwangi was recording them.
“Madam unaitwa nani? kwa nini mnakuja kushika watu bila ID? hawa watu tumewauliza hawana ID,” Mwangi asked before other police officers intervened. This loosely translates to (“Madam what is your name? why do you come to arrest people without your IDs? we have asked these people but they have no ID.)
Mwangi also said they found out that the young men and GSU officers were under the command of Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) employee.
“It’s Friday and they’re picking people from shops, beating them and taking them to a lorry for not having “branding licences.'”
“Because I recorded them, the GSU officers wanted to take my phone, I refused and in my attempt to run away, I fell. They caught up with me, and beat me up. Even after the beating I didn’t hand over the phone,” continued Mwangi on his post.
Mwangi further said no one was arrested because they raised their voices to protest. “I was slightly injured. The harassment and the brutalization of innocent citizens going about their business was captured on their building’s CCTV.”
Watch the video in Mwang’s Twitter thread below.
