This archive report was first published on 8 July 2019.
On July 8, 2019, a group of security guards at Kipsigis Highlands Tea Factory in Konoin, Bomet County, turned violent against a team of reporters who were investigating the factory's poor waste management practices.
The reporters, who were in the area to cover a demonstration by residents over raw waste discharge by the factory into Emitiot and Kaboisio River, were blocked by the guards from entering the factory. When one of the reporters, Vitalis Kimutai, decided to take a photo of the factory, he was confronted by the guards, who forcibly took his camera.
Kimutai's colleagues, Weldon Kauri and Hillary Mutai, intervened to try and recover the camera, but they were also roughed up by the guards. Kauri was injured after being hit by a blunt object, and Mutai's clothes were torn during the confrontation.
The incident, which lasted nearly 20 minutes, has sparked outrage among the local community, who have been complaining about the factory's poor waste management practices for months. The Konoin police boss, Alex Shikondi, has promised to arrest the guards involved in the incident and has ordered the factory management to surrender the suspects to face assault charges.
