For a long time now, Journalism has been seen as a very interesting profession. Journalists seem to always have fun whenever they carry out their various assignments. Few of us do not know what the journalists actually go through behind the scenes just to have those stories reach us.
Journalism is not just a bed of roses as many think, the Journalists have at times had to deal with rogue audiences and government officials that have at times engaged them in physical battles.
In Bondo, two journalists, Brian Ondeng’ of the Kenya News Agency (KNA) and Geoffrey Oguma of Radio Namlolwe were assaulted by the Officer Commanding Bondo Police Station Abdikadir Yusuf.
The officer has been summoned to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon.
The OCS has also been accused of confiscating their mobile phones, wallets, recorders, notebooks, Media Council Accreditation Cards and other personal belongings.
Ondeng’ and Oguma had gone to cover an incident where police officers were arresting a shylock in Bondo town.
It is here that they were allegedly assaulted, arrested and then made to spend the night in police cells.
The two were later arraigned in court and charged with obstructing the police from discharging their duties, which they denied.
Ondeng’ claimed that the confiscated items were not recorded in the Occurrences Book (OB).
He told the court that they tried to explain to the officers that they were journalists and even produced their job cards but the OCS allegedly pounced on them.
The police boss then instructing some junior officers to arrest them.
On Tuesday morning, Bondo Principal Magistrate Obiero ordered that the journalists be released on a Ksh.10,000 cash bail or an alternative bond of Ksh.20,000 pending hearing of the case on January 22, next year.
Should the government step in and help protect Journalists from assault by a section of Kenyans?