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Emmanuel Maleve founder and CEO of Hopkin Digital Media has spoken exclusively to Lower Eastern Digital Media about his dramatic arrest on Labour Day, May 1st, by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), whom he alleges were acting on orders from powerful political forces in Kitui.
According to Maleve, the arrest was no coincidence. It was a planned ambush, executed after weeks of failed attempts to track him down.
“After watching President William Ruto’s Labour Day speech, I took my lunch and headed out for my usual errands at Muli Mall. What I didn’t know was that I was walking into a trap,” Maleve told our newsroom.
The Hopkin CEO entered Muli Mall via the west entrance, climbed the stairs as usual, and walked into a bookshop to inquire about revision materials. Moments later, three plain-clothes officers approached. One called out, “Emmanuel, how is you?” Another, with a heavy Kalenjin accent, identified them as officers and ordered him to cooperate.
“I didn’t resist,” Maleve said. “I calmly called my friend Joshua and asked him to follow us. It was my first arrest since the 2010 Constitution came into effect.”
He was handcuffed on the spot and escorted outside through the northern exit of the mall, where a Toyota vehicle with the registration number KCQ 184U awaited. Inside the vehicle were multiple armed officers. One, whom he described as a “warrior,” rode shotgun, while the driver an older man stayed silent.
But Maleve believes this was merely a smokescreen. He directly accused Kitui South MP, Dr. Rachael Kaki Nyamai, of engineering what he described as a politically motivated attack on him and his media platform.
“This wasn’t just about cyberbullying. It was about silencing me. One of their informants, a well-known, bleached, and unshapely goon linked to a local MP, had been trailing me for weeks and finally succeeded in pointing me out to the sleuths,” the CEO told lower Eastern Digital editor.
The most harrowing part of his ordeal, Maleve recounts, came during the ride to Nairobi.
“They sandwiched me between them, their guns brushing against me, threatening me. One even warned me I’d be castrated if I didn’t comply,” he said. “This wasn’t enforcement of the law. This was psychological warfare.”
As word of the arrest spread, supporters began to gather at the Kitui Police Station. While the officers remained tight-lipped, one quietly slipped his contact to Maleve’s allies, hinting at deeper backchannel dealings.
“This was a test of my resolve,” Maleve said defiantly. “But I won’t be silenced. If anything, this has only made me louder.”
Part Two of this Developing Story: Coming Soon
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