Nairobi — A Kenyan journalist who was shot and tortured by the police and guards of Ken Gen, the official power generating company, over the past Christmas holidays, has claimed that prison inmates had saved his life when the police tried to kill him.

Argwings Odera was arrested after he had gone to report about a community's dissent over a controversial hydro-power project, which environmentalists say could jeopardise the life of the entire fauna and flora in the area.

He was later charged in court for inciting the community, uttering false statements and resisting arrest. He was released on a 100,000-shilling (about 1,300 US dollars) bond.

Odera claimed the police attempted to kill him 26 December after shooting at his car several times.

With his broken middle right hand finger in plaster and a bullet wound on the left upper arm, he said that during his arrest, police officers had asked him to open his car's door but he declined.

He added that the police went for further reinforcements and came back later under a senior officer who ordered one of his juniors to shoot the car if he is inside, "and if you shoot him, well and good. But if he survives the shooting, it will be his own luck."

Odera narrated to PANA in Nairobi how he pleaded with the police not to shoot him before he ducked and luckily escaped the hail of bullets that followed.

He said that his vehicle, still impounded at the Ahero Police station, where he was held incommunicado for seven days, bears bullet holes.

Worse still, he said, the police are still demanding that he pays 20,000 shillings (about 250 dollars) for an alleged 100 rounds of ammunition they used when they shot at his car.

He narrated how one of the inmates at the police cell virtually licked the glass particles that had entered his eyes after the bullets shattered his car windows.

Another inmate offered toothpaste, which they smeared on his left shoulder bullet wound.

Odera said he was driving at about noon (0900 GMT) when he came across a Ken Gen vehicle that blocked his way, forcing him to stop.

Two guards alighted from the Ken Gen vehicle and set upon the scribe, breaking his right hand finger in the process. They later handed him to the police who further beat him before locking him up for seven days.

Following Odera's arrest and torture, Africa Water Network, in partnership with the Sondu-Miriu Community Advocacy Group, has protested against the muzzling of the voice of the community living around the controversial Sondu-Miriu Hydro-power project by arresting the journalist and intimidating environmental activists, Pireh Otieno and Duncan Odima.

The two bodies claim that the steps being taken by Ken Gen and the police were a ploy to ensure that members of the community affected by the power generation project do not have a chance to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who arrives in Kanya Wednesday.

The Sondu-Miriu Hydro power project has been funded by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency or JICA.

Following an uproar from locals and environmentalists, funding for the second phase of the dam power project was put on hold in December after the Japanese parliament learnt of gross human rights abuse of community members and employees at the project site.

Apart from the dust and degradation resulting from the excavation work at the site and use of toxic materials to degrade the rocks, which environmentalists say is finding its way into Lake Victoria, the local population is also complaining of inadequate compensation for their land.